


scooped

by bestthreemonths



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-08-31 11:45:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8577217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bestthreemonths/pseuds/bestthreemonths
Summary: After pursuing serious broadcast journalism for years, the last thing Alex Morgan wants is to be relegated to a stupid local sports story, but after meeting her subject, Kelley O'Hara, she can't let it go.





	1. rule #1: always be on time

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came from a wonderful anon who submitted it to my [ficmas survey](https://goo.gl/forms/6Z8S8JczdFJ3U8592) (which is still open, by the way!), and I hope you all enjoy!

Alex Morgan still remembers her very first budget meeting when she landed her dream job at a local news station in Atlanta. Well, dream job might be a bit much, but as a brand new college graduate, it was a good stepping stone on the way to her actual dream job of being the next Diane Sawyer or Katie Couric or Meredith Vieira—minus the whole Who Wants to be a Millionaire stint, of course. 

 

In college, she’d been the star of the communications school’s news station, a low-budget operation that allowed her to anchor the nightly news. Her sights were set on New York City, but the Big Apple’s sights did not seem to be set on Alex Morgan. After more than 20 rejection letters and even more unanswered applications, her adviser gently suggested she send her reel to ABC affiliates around the country and stay open to relocating anywhere.

 

She swallowed her pride and sent her reel (and a slightly desperate-sounding cover letter) to at least 100 places, and she almost took the very first job that called her back, a tiny news station in Wisconsin, but her adviser told her to be patient (knowing full well that her wimpy California ass wouldn’t survive one day past August 30). Her patience and persistence paid off, and she was rewarded with an associate content editor position at WSB-TV in Atlanta.

 

Her first day was magical—she can remember the smell of fresh coffee, the bright lights, the buzz of the newsroom, the click-clack of her heels in the lobby when she swiped her brand-new badge for entrance. Her first budget meeting was the first time she felt like she was well on her way to making all her dreams come true. She pitched a story that didn’t get budgeted, but one of the senior reporters smiled at her and told her later she was impressed that Alex spoke up at her first meeting.

 

Five years later, that reporter, Allie Long, is Alex’s best friend and roommate. Under Allie’s mentorship, Alex successfully went from associate content editor to junior reporter to senior reporter, meaning she’s on the news almost every single night. The coffee smells more stale every day, the lights feel more draining, and the newsroom buzz has become newsroom gossip. Her feet have permanent blisters from the heels she wears daily, and the photo on her badge is way outdated, which she can tell when she holds it up next to her face in the bathroom mirror and counts the lines that have formed since she was a bright-eyed and eager 22-year-old.

 

Alex slips into the newsroom at the tail-end of the meeting, and Allie holds out a mug of coffee without looking at her. She’d been up too late the night before binge-watching her latest Netflix addiction, and despite Allie pounding on her door to wake her up, she was too late to beat the hellish Atlanta traffic.

 

The sound of her name being barked out startles Alex, and she spills the coffee on her blouse. “Fuck,” she says under her breath before looking up. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she tells Jill, the station manager who’s staring her down.

 

“Thank you for joining us,” Jill says. “We were almost done handing out stories, but if you have a pitch you’d like to share, be my guest.”

 

“Um,” Alex stammers. She struggles to come up with something, knowing by the smirk on Jill’s face that if she doesn’t have something—and something good, at that, she’ll be saddled with whatever story is left over, probably something an intern scraped up from the bottom of the barrel. “No,” she says finally. “I don’t have anything.”

 

“Perfect, you can take coach then,” Jill says. “Thanks for your ideas, everyone, and thank you to most everyone for being on time. Let’s make some magic.”

 

Alex rolls her eyes to herself at the not-even-thinly veiled jab. “What’s coach?” she whispers to Allie, who gives her a look.

 

“You didn’t take out the trash in your mad dash to get to work, did you?” she deadpans.

 

“Give me a break,” Alex sighs. “I’m sorry, I know. I’ll do it tonight.”

 

“False, you’re going to be here till like 2 a.m., and when I make dinner tonight, I’ll have to take it out because it’ll be full.”

 

“I’ll make it up to you,” Alex says. “I promise. I know I’m the worst. Now what’s coach?”

 

“I don’t know, some high school sports thing,” Allie shrugs. “Ask Tobin, it was her pitch.”

 

Alex narrows her eyes. “So why isn’t Tobin doing it?” High school sports isn’t just a downgrade from Alex’s usual beat, it’s a complete insult.

 

“Hell if I know,” Allie says. “Ask her. And you’re welcome for the coffee, by the way.”

 

“Thank you, my angel, my hero, the love of my life!” Alex calls over her shoulder as she scurries toward the sports “cave,” as everyone else calls it. “Tobin!” she says, bursting through the door. “Can we talk about this coach thing?”

 

“Good morning to you too,” Tobin says in her familiar monotone, spinning away from her computer to face Alex.

 

“Good morning,” Alex says, putting a hand on her hip. “First of all, how long is this going to take me? And secondly, why aren’t you doing it if it was your pitch and sports-related?”

 

“Can’t,” Tobin says. “I know her. Conflict of interest.”

 

“Okay,” Alex says, tapping her foot impatiently. Tobin just looks at her, an amused smile on her face. They face each other in a silent stand-off till Alex finally huffs out in frustration. “Fine, you win. We both know I was late. Can you just give me the pitch?”

 

Tobin smirks. “I just like hearing you admit your imperfections, princess,” she teases, rummaging through the stack of papers on her desk. “Here you go. It’s for Thursday.”

  
Alex rolls her eyes, flipping through the material. All she’s gathering is that a high school in Peachtree City has a new soccer coach. “Why is this a story?”

 

“I know you aren’t much for sports, but a former player for the U.S. Women’s National Team—that’s soccer, for the record—is the new head coach for the team. That’s kind of big.”

 

“So it’s a puff piece.”

 

Tobin sighs heavily. “It’s not a—”

 

“How do you know this girl?”

 

“She’s our age, so she’s a woman, for starters,” Tobin says. “She and I played on youth national teams together. But that’s not relevant to the story, so maybe you should get to compiling your questions and research on her, because I have work to do.”

 

“Got it,” Alex says. Tobin turns back to her computer. “Tobs,” she sighs.

 

“Hm?” Tobin asks, not turning around.

 

“I’m sorry,” she says. “Thank you for your help.”

 

Tobin smiles, finally revealing her teeth instead of giving one of those half-assed pursed-lips smiles, a sign that her annoyance with Alex is over for the time being. “Anytime.”

 

~

 

Alex feels like she’s in trouble as she shifts against the hard plastic of one of the chairs in front office. When she’d called the coach to confirm that she’d be there for practice and would like to interview her before, she wasn’t exactly prepared for her to say she should come before school even ends, but Alex was so caught off-guard she couldn’t say no. She told her camera crew not to bother coming till 3, but something in the woman’s voice made it impossible for Alex to turn her invitation for a “quick tour and hangs.”

 

“Miss Morgan?” a voice says from the door. Alex looks up to see a woman who looks about her age at the door, smiling. She recognizes her as the coach who she’s spent the morning researching, but in person she’s like brand new. Her smile is brighter than she’d guessed from the majority of pictures she found from on the field, but maybe her most defining characteristic is her face full of freckles.

 

“Alex,” Alex corrects, standing up to greet her with a handshake.

 

“And you can call me Kelley,” the coach says, shaking Alex’s hand firmly. “I thought I told you to wear something you can run around in.”

 

Alex raises her eyebrows, looking down at herself. “I thought you were kidding,” she confesses. She had changed her blouse from the coffee-stained light blue one to the purple one she has stashed in her drawer in case of emergency. “I didn’t have time to go home and change.”

 

Kelley shrugs. “No worries, I have a change. You’re probably about my size. I like to make reporters work up a sweat.” She winks, holding the door open for Alex. “How long have you been in Atlanta?”

 

“It was five years this July,” Alex says. “I moved right after my 22nd birthday.”

 

“From where?” Kelley asks.

 

“California. I went to Berkeley for college, but I’m from Southern California.”

 

“Sick,” Kelley says. “We’re sworn enemies then.”

 

“Yeah?” Alex asks, kinking an eyebrow.

 

“I’m a Stanford Cardinal,” Kelley announces proudly, and Alex could swear she literally puffs out her chest saying that. 

 

“Ah,” Alex says. “Sorry, I don’t really follow sports.”

 

“So you’re here because?” Kelley asks in amusement.

 

“Long story,” Alex laughs. “But Tobin is my, uh, we’re good friends.”

 

“I love that dude,” Kelley sighs. “I haven’t gotten a chance to get together with her since I’ve been here, but we had some great times.” She opens a door to a hallway that Alex can tell immediately is the gym hallway because it smells like sweat and feet. She notes the grimace on Alex’s face and laughs. “Don’t worry, you get used to it. I think my nostrils are numb at this point. And my office has an air freshener, so it doesn’t leak through.”

 

Alex nods, trying to neutralize her face, but she’s sure it doesn’t work. When they finally reach Kelley’s office at the end of the hall, though, she’s amazed. “Holy shit,” she says. Kelley blushes. “Sorry, language.”

 

“Oh please,” Kelley laughs. “I’m an athlete. But yeah, not bad, right? It kind of doubles as a lounge for my soccer girls.”

 

Not bad was a wild understatement of fact. Alex is pretty sure the office is bigger than the living area of her apartment, and it’s furnished with a massive desk and a few couches and beanbag chairs. In the corner is a small kitchen area. Once she assesses the room and turns to squint at Kelley, who looks almost embarrassed at Alex’s astonishment, she finally realizes maybe there’s a real story here.

 

~

 

Alex gets down to business pretty quickly, pulling out her notepad and tape recorder for their “hangs.” Kelley doesn’t seem to mind, but she also doesn’t seem particularly keen to answer any substantial questions. She redirects the conversation back to Alex at every opportunity, but the conversation flows so easily Alex barely writes anything beyond her name, age, and “Stanford.”

 

Kelley talks about her family and Stanford (she talks about Stanford a lot) and the chipmunk her father domesticated by accident, but Alex doesn’t know anything about soccer, so she has trouble leading her down the path she wants to get her on… not that she even knows what that path is. But Kelley is easy to talk to and even easier to listen to, and part of Alex doesn’t even want to get to the heart of it if it gives her an excuse to come interview Kelley again before Thursday.

 

When Alex’s phone buzzes with a text from her camerawoman, Ashlyn, she has barely scratched the surface of what could be a great story.

 

“Do you mind if we head out to the field?”

 

“As long as you don’t mind helping me carry cones and balls,” Kelley says, standing up. “After you get changed, of course.” She tosses Alex a Starr’s Mill Lady Panthers soccer T-shirt and a pair of navy shorts.

 

“I cannot wear this on television,” Alex laughs, holding it up.

 

“Oh come on, it’ll make for great footage,” Kelley insists.

 

Alex rolls her eyes but does as she’s told, escaping into the en-suite bathroom (yes, really) to change. When she emerges, Kelley is weighed down with all sorts of soccer supplies (at least Alex assumes that’s what it is).

 

“Ready to get your ass kicked?”

 

~

 

Alex thought she’d be ready—she does Pilates for God’s sake—but she’s winded after warming up with the team for five minutes. She sits on the sidelines with Ashlyn, trying to catch her breath as they watch the girls do drills and sprints and… conditioning? She doesn’t really know what conditioning means, she’s just heard Tobin use it a lot.

 

“Are we getting an interview with her today?” Ashlyn asks, looking at the darkening sky with concern.

 

“I got some stuff for sound bites,” Alex says, but she isn’t even sure of that. “We don’t have to have it packaged till Thursday, so we can do that tomorrow if that’s okay.”

 

Ashlyn smiles. “Yeah, no problem,” she says. “Tobin said you seemed a little nervous about a sports piece.”

 

Alex shrugs. “I guess,” she says. “I’ve done them before, but I don’t know. This one seems different.”

 

“How so?”

 

“I haven’t quite figured that out yet.”

 

“Jill’s going to want more than B-roll when we get back there tonight,” Ashlyn says.

 

“I know,” Alex sighs. “I’ll handle her.”

 

~

 

She feels less confident than she tried to sound when she finally does walk into the newsroom.

 

“How’s coach?” Jill asks as soon as she sees her.

 

“Good,” Alex says. “We’ll have it all packaged for Thursday.”

 

“Not today?” Jill asks, frowning.

 

“Tobin said it was for Thursday.”

 

“It is, but I figured you’d want to be done with it so you could work on other things,” Jill says. “It’s barely a five-minute segment.”

 

“I disagree,” Alex says. “She’s from Peachtree City, you know. She played high school soccer there. She’s kind of a major star. She scored a goal in—”

 

“Morgan, stop,” Jill says, cutting her off. “It’s a sports story. A high school sports story. It would have taken one of our sports reporters about two hours to wrap it up. You’ve been here long enough to do it in an hour.”

 

“Well that’s not—”

 

“That’s what you’re being paid to do,” Jill says.

 

“I’m not a sports reporter,” Alex says. “And this isn’t a sports piece. This could get picked up by—”

 

“Fine,” Jill says. “Do what you want with it. But I need a package on Thursday, no excuses. A five-minute package about their season opener and their new coach’s plans to improve their record. Talk about her superstardom, whatever, but it’s a sports piece.”

 

Alex purses her lips but decides not to argue. There’s an anchor spot at stake, after all, and the more she can stay on Jill’s good side, the better.

 

That night, after taking out the trash, she stays up for hours researching Kelley’s career, watching videos from college to her first pro league to international to her second pro league. She learns more than she ever wanted to know about soccer, but the one thing she can’t find is what the hell Kelley’s doing here now, at least not really. There’s stuff about overhauling the team and changing personnel, and there’s stuff about minor injuries and surgeries, but something about her retirement seems fishy.

 

All she can find is a statement from U.S. Soccer with a quote from Kelley saying—as generically as possible—that she would be retiring from both international and club play immediately. There would be no send-off, no celebration like they would normally do for such a tenured player. She scored a goal in a World Cup, for God’s sake.

 

She also finds Kelley’s social media, which is a rabbit hole that Alex has no business going down, but she does anyway. Her Instagram is a mix of pictures with her family, friends, and aesthetically pleasing coffee and food outings. Lately there have been some pictures with her new team, but there’s very little about soccer since before she announced her retirement.

 

Her Twitter tells a different story in a way. She tweets wry observations about the world, but she tweets about soccer as well, cheering on her old teammates in games and live-tweeting them. Alex scrolls back weeks and weeks and still has no idea what to think about this woman.

  
All she knows is she’s fascinated.


	2. rule #2: stay on your source's good side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex wraps up her story, but her curiosity about Kelley only grows.

“If I didn't know better, I'd think you had a crush on me,” Kelley teases when Alex arrives with her crew to the soccer field the next day.

 

Alex smiles. “You caught me,” she says. “But next time I really don't want to deal with that toad of a secretary in the front office.”

 

“Noted,” Kelley says with a nod, grinning at Ashlyn. “But there will be a next time, yes?”

 

“Gotta have this all packaged by Thursday, hence why we have to actually film you today and not just run around and get dirt and grass all over me.”

 

Kelley pouts dramatically. “Just when I thought we had a good thing going.”

 

“I don't want to tear you away from practice, but the sun will go down at some point,” Ashlyn interjects.

 

“No problem, my assistant has it covered,” Kelley says with a wink, gesturing to the empty sidelines. “That was a joke,” she clarifies. “There's no budget for that. Usually it’s some student volunteer, but it’s volleyball season, so they’re occupied.”

 

“Yeah,” Alex says slowly. “Ashlyn, you set?”

 

“Yeah, all good,” Ashlyn says from behind the camera, and Alex busies herself with her notes.

 

“Don't you have to say stuff first?” Kelley asks.

 

“We’ll shoot that later,” Alex explains. “Movie magic.”

 

“Sounds like it,” Kelley laughs. “Hit me with your best shot.”

 

“What brings you back to Peachtree City?” Alex always likes to start with a softball, one that usually anyone can answer easily to get them comfortable, but Kelley doesn't seem to be a stranger to the camera, and she speaks with ease as she looks directly at Alex.

 

“This is my home, and Starr’s Mill is the program that raised me,” Kelley says. “I owe it my whole career, and if I'm not playing soccer, I want to help these girls get to where they want to go. I wanted to give back to the school and the town I came from, and it's been a dream come true so far.”

 

“What's the best part about being home?”

 

“The best part about being home is my mom’s home-cooked meals,” Kelley says, smirking. “The worst is living with my parents after so much time being an adult in the real world.”

 

“Why don't you get your own place?”

 

Kelley laughs. “You sound like my mom. I'm still getting settled and going through a big life transition, so for now I think it's best for me to be somewhere familiar.”

 

Alex nods. “So, why did you retire from soccer anyway?”

 

Kelley's face falls momentarily, but she catches herself and forces a smile. “Isn't this interview supposed to be about the team?”

 

“Well, yes,” Alex says. “But it's also about the new coach who has a wealth of experience and what brought her here.”

 

“I'm from here, it was an easy choice,” Kelley says.

 

“We've established that,” Alex laughs. “But I watched your game footage. You're crazy talented. And everything I could get my hands on made it seem like you retiring from soccer was the most insane choice people could imagine. I need to set the stage here.”

 

“No, you want a scoop,” Kelley says, folding her arms across her chest in defense mode. “And that's not what you're going to get. My focus is on these girls, so if we aren't going to talk about them, our time is probably up because I could be spending this time training them.”

 

Alex’s jaw practically reaches the floor when Kelley’s voice and face change to reflect her obvious irritation. “No!” she exclaims when Kelley turns to walk back to the bench. “I'm sorry. We can talk about them. I don't mean to overstep.”

 

She's also still desperate for a story, fearing what Jill will do if she comes back empty-handed after devoting two afternoons to one simple sports segment.

 

“What’s, um, what's your end goal for the team?” Alex asks. She has nothing prepared for this.

 

Kelley turns back around and smiles, dropping her arms back to her side and standing confidently. “I know this team can reach the playoffs and win the championship. There's a lot of talent, just not a whole lot of discipline. Yet. But we've been training hard, and I know we’ll get there. I'm proud of all the strides we’ve made so far, and I can't wait to see what else this group is capable of.”

 

“Thanks,” Alex says. “That should do it.”

 

Kelley raises her eyebrows. “You sure?”

 

“Yep,” Alex says. “We’ll just film a little bit more and then we’ll be out of your hair.”

 

~

 

Alex doesn't really mind that their interview got cut short by Kelley’s little meltdown till she's driving home and going over it again and again in her head. If she wasn't sure before that there's more to the story than “stepping away from the beautiful game,” she is now, and she hates herself for not pushing harder. She just folded. She never folds.

 

“What are you doing back so early?” Allie looks surprised to see Alex breeze through the door as she watches the news at the bar in the kitchen.

 

“I'm going back for the 11 o’clock, but I had to decompress,” Alex says.

 

Allie raises an eyebrow. “You braved rush hour traffic to decompress? Why not go chill at Tobin’s?” Alex scowls. “Okay, or Ashlyn’s?”

 

“Al,” Alex groans, sitting down at the bar beside her. She recounts the story, from talking to Tobin yesterday to Kelley’s freak-out today, and Allie listens, nodding and interjecting with questions as she goes.

 

“Wow,” Allie says between bites. “It sounds like there's more to the story.”

 

“Thank you!” Alex exclaims, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Ashlyn told me I was crazy.”

 

“I mean I think you're crazy for caring when you didn't want to do the story to begin with, but there's definitely something weird there.”

 

“That's the thing,” Alex groans. “I don't even care as like, a story thing. At this point I just want to know to satisfy my own curiosity.”

 

“Why don't you ask Tobin?” Allie asks.

 

“You know why,” Alex sighs, rolling her eyes. She and Tobin, who started out thick as thieves when they started at WSB-TV around the same time, lived together (along with Allie) before this summer, and ever since Tobin moved out, her relationship with Alex has been strained at best.

 

“Then get over it,” Allie shrugs, the words sounding harsher than she intends them underneath her heavy Long Island accent. Luckily Alex knows her well enough to understand.

 

She can’t get over it, though, and then she can’t get over the fact that she can’t get over it. She doesn’t even touch the radio on the quiet drive back to work, too wrapped up in her thoughts about Kelley to be distracted by NPR or some Top 40 station.

 

Alex is so wrapped up in her thoughts as she sits in the parking garage at work that she jumps out of her skin when her phone sounds with a new text from an unknown number.

 

“Hey Alex, this is Kelley O’Hara. I got your number from Tobin, I hope that’s okay. I just wanted to apologize for how I acted today. I feel really awful about it. You’ve been nothing but nice to me, and I know you were just doing your job. Thanks for covering the team, it means a lot. And it was really nice meeting you. I’m excited to see the final product!”

 

Alex reads the text at least five times, trying to glean whatever she can from it. She considers just texting back a quick “thanks for the note,” like she would with most sources and subjects—she doesn’t much like mixing business and personal life—but she still feels drawn to the story.

 

“Thanks for reaching out,” Alex texts back. “I owe you an apology too. I’m not a sports reporter, so I’m not used to getting a story and sticking to it. There’s always something underneath the surface, right?”

 

“I get that,” Kelley replies quickly. She follows it up with another message. “There are probably things under that surface of yours too, huh? ;)”

 

“Lol,” Alex replies, but she can’t help the dread that crawls beneath her skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. “What exactly did you and Tobin talk about?”

 

“Swear I just asked for your number. But now I’m intrigued.”

 

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” Alex’s heart races as soon as she presses send. It’s the same feeling she had the first time she passed a note to a boy in her first-grade class asking if he wanted to be her boyfriend. He checked yes, they got married on the playground that afternoon, and she asked for a divorce the second he told her she couldn’t play with her friends because they’re married now.

 

She can tell Kelley isn't fazed, because within moments she has a new text. “Me. You. Coffee. Tomorrow?”

 

“Are you going to tell me your secrets?” Alex leverages.

 

“Probably not,” Kelley replies. “But I do need friends now that I’m here for good, and any friend of Tobin’s is a friend of mine.”

 

“10:15,” Alex replies. “Whatever Starbucks is closest to you.”

 

“Starbucks? Basic.”

 

“Snob.”

 

Kelley texts her an address. “Meet me here. Trust me on this one!”

 

Alex is so busy furiously Googling the menu at the coffeeshop (it’s coffee) that she almost runs directly into Tobin as she click-clacks through the lobby.

 

“Whoa,” Tobin says, grabbing Alex’s forearms so she doesn’t knock her head against Tobin’s face and get a concussion (and probably knock Tobin’s teeth out in the process). “Watch it.”

 

“Oh, sorry,” Alex says, turning pink. “I was just—sorry.”

 

“It’s all good,” Tobin says. “How was your first sports story? What I’ve seen from Ash looks good.”

 

“Yeah,” Alex agrees, nodding her head quickly. “It’s… not bad. Hey, what do you know about Kelley’s retirement?”

 

Tobin furrows her brow. “Why?”

 

“Because nobody knows anything,” she says. “At least not that I can figure out. And it’s driving me insane. Also she has this ridiculous office that’s like, amazing, and she lives with her parents, and none of it adds up. I figured if you guys are friends…”

 

“That’s why I couldn’t cover it,” Tobin says. “Anything she’s ever told me is as a friend. I can’t help you.”

 

Alex huffs out her frustration and can barely restrain herself from stomping a heel in annoyance. “Okay, but not as a reporter, just as a person. As your friend.”

 

Tobin sighs. “Alex—” she starts.

 

“Hey, Alex!” a soft, smooth voice says. Tobin’s girlfriend, Christen Press, approaches from behind Tobin, slipping an arm around Tobin’s. She has a wide permasmile across her face, probably still being held in place with Vaseline after the evening show that she anchors. “Tobs told me you’re doing that soccer story. I can’t wait to see it!”

 

Alex can see the relief on Tobin’s face from being “saved” by Christen’s arrival change back to discomfort. “Yeah, well,” Alex says, her face expressionless. “Someone’s gotta do it, right? Can’t all be anchors.”

 

Christen’s smile doesn’t falter, though she does shift her weight from one leg to the other, leaning more toward Tobin for comfort. “Have a good show,” she says. “Babe, you ready?”

 

“You bet,” Tobin says. “See you, Al.”

 

~

 

Alex hardly recognizes Kelley when she walks into Kakao Cafe. The last two times she’s seen her in person (and in most of the pictures on the internet), her hair was back and she was wearing some sort of workout attire. Today her hair falls in soft waves, and she’s wearing dark blue skinny jeans and a preppy-looking soft yellow cardigan over a basic white button-down.

 

“I feel like we’ve totally switched places,” Alex laughs as she approaches Kelley’s table, motioning to her own post-Pilates outfit of patterned pink leggings and a matching tank top.

 

“I had some meetings this morning,” Kelley says. “Trust me, after this I’m changing into my gym shorts and the ugliest gray T-shirt I can find.”

 

“Then I don’t feel so bad about not showering for you.”

 

“What do you want to drink?” Kelley asks, standing up from her seat. “We’re getting the churros.”

 

“I had a huge breakfast,” Alex protests.

 

“Yeah, and then you just went and sweat your ass off, so you’ve earned it,” Kelley says. “We’ll share.”

 

“At least let me pay,” Alex says. “For my own. I can’t accept gifts from sources.”

 

“I’m not a source,” Kelley says, rolling her eyes. “The story’s over, I thought we were going to be friends now.”

 

Alex sighs dramatically, but she accepts the coffee when Kelley sits back down.

 

“So, about those secrets,” Kelley says, raising an eyebrow.

 

“You have way more than I do.”

 

“That’s just because you Googled me,” Kelley teases. “I know absolutely nothing about you, so even things you don’t think are a big deal will surprise me.”

 

“What is this, a date?” Alex asks, laughing as she sips the coffee. “This is really good.”

 

Kelley laughs, looking down at her own mug. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I know how to make friends. Literally for the past decade all my friends have been teammates, and they never really had a choice. They were kind of forced to hang out with me.”

 

“And now?”

 

“They’re still my friends,” Kelley says. “I just don’t see them as often. I hang out with my sister a lot, but other than that, my closest friends are the girls I coach. Sad, right?”

 

“That’s not sad, it’s cute,” Alex promises.

 

“Alright, so make this easy on me,” Kelley says. “Tell me about Alex Morgan, TV news superstar.”

 

Alex laughs. “I guess you haven’t Googled me.”

 

“I haven’t!”

 

“I’ve basically been doing grunt work for five years,” Alex says, twirling a piece of hair from her ponytail around her finger while she looks around the coffeeshop. “It’s amazing, don’t get me wrong, but I kind of thought I’d be an anchor by now.”

 

“I can’t imagine there’s anyone at the station prettier than you,” Kelley says.

 

Alex looks at her quickly, taken off guard by the compliment, but Kelley’s face doesn’t look like it’s waiting for her to say “thank you,” it looks earnest and kind, like she really meant it. “That’s nice of you to say.”

 

“Sorry, I don’t mean to suggest… I know there’s a lot more to your job than looks, but I can tell you’re talented and smart and hard-working. Seems like the perfect combination, especially when you add your face into the mix.”

 

“You’ve got to stop,” Alex laughs, her face turning red.

 

“Fine, fine,” Kelley sighs, crossing one leg over the other. “Tell me more. Why news?”

 

“It’s so dorky, but growing up I read the paper every morning with my dad,” Alex says. “We didn’t have enough time for both of us to read the whole thing, so we’d split it up and then tell each other the stories we’d read while he drove me to school. I started out getting the easy stuff, but I still remember the first day he gave me the front page to read. It was probably the happiest moment of my 8-year-old life.”

 

“That’s so cute,” Kelley says, a smile spreading across her face.

 

“I wanted to read every story I could get my hands on, it was like a great TV show reading about current events. Like, all these public figures have their own storylines, and there was drama and mystery and plot twists. And I just realized how much it’s like storytelling, and I fell in love with that idea. I even got in trouble in middle school when we had creative writing projects because my characters were all based on real people and my events were based on world events. My dad said he was proud of me, but that I should use my imagination. And I told him that there were so many crazy and wonderful and scary things going on in the world that my imagination would be put to shame. Or however a 12-year-old would have phrased that.”

 

“Just listening to you now, I have to imagine 12-year-old Alex wasn’t like many other 12-year-olds, so she probably would have put it just like that.”

 

“Probably,” Alex agrees. “So it was easy to decide my major in college. I went into broadcast because I became obsessed with all these women on 60 Minutes and ABC News and Good Morning America, and I wanted to be just like them. But I love writing scripts and writing stories for the web and all that other stuff.”

 

“A woman of many talents,” Kelley muses.

 

Alex shrugs. “I thought doing everything would help me advance faster, you know? And now it doesn’t feel that way. Meanwhile, other people come in and flip their shiny hair and flash their pearly whites and they’re front and center.”

 

“Someone in mind?” Kelley asks gently.

 

Alex purses her lips, smiling tightly. “No, no,” she says. “Just… generally speaking.”

 

Kelley smiles knowingly. “Well, you’ll get there,” she says. “Even if it means working your ass off for what feels like forever. Seeing your dreams come true is always worth it.”

 

“Winning the World Cup?”

 

Kelley shakes her head. “The first time I suited up for an international game,” she says. “That was the pinnacle for me. It only got better, don’t get me wrong, but I couldn’t believe I was there, you know? When I was playing soccer growing up I wouldn’t have dared to dream about a World Cup or Olympic podium when I knew how hard it was just to play D1 college soccer, let alone make the national team.”

 

“But you did it.”

 

“All that and then some,” Kelley says, smiling proudly. “I think the coolest thing was realizing once one dream comes true you can move onto another one.”

 

“Is coaching high school soccer your new dream?” Alex laughs.

 

Kelley chews the inside of her cheek like she hadn’t really thought about it before that moment. “I guess it kind of has to be, huh?”

 

“Was that it?” Alex asks. “You’d just achieved everything you wanted to in professional soccer, so you were done?”

 

Kelley swallows hard, fidgeting with one of the buttons on her cardigan before looking directly into Alex’s eyes. “If you got an anchor job with, like, CNN right now, would you be done?”

 

“Of course not.” Alex almost laughs at the ridiculousness of the question, but something in Kelley’s face makes her think twice.

 

“There’s my answer,” Kelley says, her eyes locked on Alex’s in a steely glare before her face softens into its resting soft smile and she looks down at her wrist, probably more out of habit than anything, as there’s no watch adorning it. “I have to get back to school, but I’m glad we did this. Maybe we can hang out again soon.”

 

“Uh, yeah,” Alex agrees, nodding quickly. She stands abruptly to fumble for an awkward hug. “Oh, the piece on your team is on tomorrow night, but it might be during practice. I’ll be sure to email you the web link, though.”

 

“No worries,” Kelley says. “We’ll definitely be watching.”


	3. rule #3: if you want it done right, do it yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex finds herself back on the case, this time with a "friend" in tow.

Alex loves Fridays. A lot of people like Fridays a lot, but Alex doesn’t know anyone who loves Fridays quite as much as she does. Mondays used to be her favorite, especially when she was just starting her job, but there’s nothing like a Friday morning in the newsroom, everyone buzzing about weekend plans. It’s like she gets a second wind to push her into the weekend. Even when she doesn’t have any plans (like this weekend), Fridays are full of possibilities. A glass of wine at home on the couch? A wild night out on the town? Who the hell can say? Not Alex, and that’s why she loves them.

 

At every Friday morning meeting, Jill gives special shoutouts to people who made a specific positive impact on the station that week, and Alex is used to getting props pretty consistently. It’s usually just to build morale, but sometimes there are gift cards and muffin baskets involved. Alex always loves a good muffin basket.

 

The Kelley story had done well (according to more than just Kelley and her team, who had sent Alex a selfie from Kelley’s office of them watching the news), and Alex had written plenty of copy for other stories to fill up space on the web. Aside from Monday, when her time at home had been spent researching the hell out of Kelley, she hasn’t gone home before midnight all week.

 

Jill starts the meeting with some housekeeping that Alex yawns through till she gets to her commendations. She congratulates Ashlyn on her job well done on the Kelley story and thanks some of the production crew for their help on a particularly difficult evening news segment where everything technical that could go wrong did go wrong.

 

“Finally, I have a Ruth’s Chris gift card for someone who went above and beyond this week,” Jill says.

 

Alex’s mouth waters. She could definitely change around her plans tonight to involve a steak.

 

“She is always stellar, of course, but this week she went out of her way to cover a story that she normally wouldn’t be assigned to, and she handled it with the class and grace we can always come to expect from her,” Jill continues. “She comes in every day and every night with a smile on her face, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a negative word come out of her mouth. Press, congratulations.”

 

Alex’s face falls from smug anticipation to disbelief in an instant as she watches Christen make her way through the crowd of people, ducking her head in (totally fake, Alex knows) embarrassment. She hugs Jill and takes the gift card from her.

 

“I’m a vegetarian, but I so appreciate the kind words,” Christen laughs.

 

“Well I’m not!” Tobin calls from her place near the sports cave.

 

“I guess someone will appreciate it, then,” Christen giggles. “Thanks team, you’ve all made this a great week.”

 

“No shit,” Alex mutters just loud enough for Allie to hear and elbow her.

 

Alex is still stewing as Jill goes through their story assignments (Alex’s is about a school board member who was arrested recently for embezzlement). When she’s done, Alex can’t contain herself anymore, and her hand shoots straight in the air.

 

“I’m sorry, is there a reason nobody’s covering the Starr’s Mill soccer season opener?” Alex asks.

 

“One story and you’re suddenly all into sports?” Jill says, amused. A low giggle spreads throughout the crowd, and Jill looks pleased with herself.

 

“It got the most engagement of any story we’ve done this week,” Alex retorts. “Why wouldn’t we keep covering it? There’s obviously something there.” She’s making her case for why she should have gotten a shout-out earlier, but that’s over, so she’s just mad.

 

“You’re right,” Jill agrees. “Why don’t you take it?”

 

“I already have a story,” Alex reminds her.

 

“Yeah, and it needs to be packaged in time for the 5 o’clock show, so you’ll have plenty of time to get there. Heath, you aren’t on anything tonight. You two are on it.”

 

Tobin just nods, but Alex can tell she’s annoyed. Alex isn’t exactly thrilled with this being the way she spends her Friday night, either, but she can’t back out now.

 

“Great,” Alex says, setting her jaw in determination.

 

~

 

The school board story doesn’t take long at all, mainly because the guy’s team already put out a press release and Alex doesn’t have to travel far to get an interview with the prosecutor. She texts Kelley to tell her she’ll be at the game, and Kelley responds with all the enthusiasm Alex has come to expect from her. Maybe it’s the high school soccer coach in her, but maybe that’s just who Kelley is.

 

Tobin offers to drive Alex, but Alex can’t think of anything more awkward than a car ride with her, especially knowing neither one of them particularly wants to be covering this game. Luckily, once they get there, Tobin still provides a level of comfort and familiarity, leading Alex up the bleachers with a firm hand on her lower back so Alex knows she’s there.

 

Alex takes notes as Tobin points out certain tactics and calls the official makes, but the most fascinating part to her is watching Kelley on the sideline, yelling encouragement at her girls (and maybe some frustration at the officials). She watches her discuss the game plan with her subs, and Tobin explains what’s probably going on.

 

The first half is scoreless, but the floodgates open when Starr’s Mill scores a goal in the first two minutes of the second half, and after that they’re unstoppable. The game ends with a 4-0 scoreline, something Kelley must be pleased about.

 

After their post-game huddle, Kelley jogs over to the sideline, grinning and waving at the stands, where it’s clear a lot of fans have come from all over just to see her. Her grin widens even more than Alex thought possible when she spots them.

 

“Hey!” Kelley exclaims, throwing her arms around Alex in a hug, taking her by surprise. She squeezes quickly before moving onto Tobin, and Alex feels like she’s been completely blindsided as she tries to remember what she was supposed to be asking.

 

“Oh, hey,” Alex says, trying to collect herself. “Can we get a quick word?”

 

“Yeah, for sure,” Kelley says, her smile not faltering.

 

“Great first game for you and the team,” Alex says into her microphone. “What did you say to them at the half?”

 

“I just reminded them about how much work they’ve been putting in during pre-season on finishing and attack, and we kind of re-established our game plan, and they ran with it. I’m really happy. I think it’s a great way to start off our season, and I think their confidence is only going to build from here.”

 

“Awesome, thanks, Kelley,” Alex says. 

 

“Hey, Casey!” Kelley calls, waving a girl over. “Here’s your real star. She’s our captain, and she got us our opening goal and then another just for kicks.”

 

Casey beams, her face flushed from working her ass off in the chilly February air. It’s obvious what Kelley’s praise means to these girls, and Alex finds herself mirroring the girl’s smile.

 

“Would you mind a quick interview?” Alex asks.

 

“Yeah, of course!” Casey exclaims, subconsciously patting her hair now that she knows she’ll be on camera. “I mean no, I wouldn’t mind. Thanks. This is cool.”

 

Alex laughs. “What was going through your mind during the first half?”

 

“Um, just that we really needed a goal,” Casey says. “It was annoying not getting one, so at halftime we refocused and I think we came back out with a game plan.”

 

“How is the vibe on the team having a new coach?”

 

“It's incredible,” Casey says. “KO has been a personal hero of mine forever, so having her as a coach has been insane. And it's not just that she's good at soccer, she's really good at listening to us and figuring out how we work best on the field. I'm just glad we were able to score some goals and get a win for her tonight.”

 

“Thanks so much for your time, Casey,” Alex says, turning back to the camera for her outro. She ends with her typical sign-off, smiling wide till the cameraman gives her the signal that he’s done rolling.

 

“You were awesome, Ali Cat,” Tobin says. “Second sports story in one week, are you coming for my job?”

 

Alex forces a laugh, but when she turns to find Kelley, she sees her by the bleachers, signing jerseys and taking selfies with a bunch of fans. She shakes her head. “The game isn’t even the story,” she says, nodding toward Kelley. “That is.”

 

Kelley catches her eye and waves before turning back to tell all the fans goodbye. She runs over to Tobin and Alex. “You guys done? After the girls are all showered and changed we’re going to go to Taco Mac if you want to come.”

 

“Actually, I’ve gotta run,” Tobin says, looking at her phone and cringing when she sees the time. “Date night.”

 

“Ooh la la,” Kelley teases. “I still need to meet this lucky lady. Alex, tell me the truth, is she as amazing as Tobin makes her out to be?” Alex smiles tightly, and Tobin just clears her throat. “Alex, come with? I could use another adult to make me feel like I’m not that lame for spending my Friday night with a bunch of high schoolers.”

 

“You’re still lame,” Tobin says. “Alex, I’ll see you Monday. Kel, just text me.”

 

“Enjoy your steak dinner!” Alex calls after her, unable to contain herself. “I really should probably head home.”

 

“Really?” Kelley asks, her face falling. “That’s cool. I’ll just call my mom or something to come with me.”

 

“Oh my God, you are not doing that!” Alex laughs.

 

“No, but I am hoping you’ll take enough pity on me to blow off whatever plans you have in favor of crushing some wings and nachos with us. Please? You still need to be initiated into official soccer fandom.”

 

“I’ve seen your Instagram comments, I don’t want any part of that.”

 

Kelley rolls her eyes. “You’re coming,” she insists.

 

“Fine,” Alex sighs dramatically. “Let me just make sure the crew is all good with the footage they have.”

 

“Okay, do you remember where my office is? Do you think you could get there again without my help?”

 

“I think so,” Alex says. “But if not, I’ll just follow the stench.”

 

Kelley winks. “Good plan.”

 

~

 

As much as she hates to admit it (and she would never do so out loud), Alex has a way better time going out to eat with a slew of teenagers and Kelley than she probably would have going out with Allie or staying in and watching Scandal on Hulu.

 

She forgets what it’s like to be 16, but she remembers quickly when she starts laughing at their jokes and joining in conversations about celebrities and movies that are out now, and she realizes why Kelley likes hanging out with them. They can’t drink (legally), and they have considerably less life experience, but they’re witty and silly and insightful, and they deserve a lot more respect than most adults are willing to grant them.

 

Some of the girls dream of playing collegiate soccer and even playing professionally, but they all have passions and goals outside of soccer. One girl, Julia, tells Alex she wants to go to college for journalism and asks her advice. Another girl, piggybacking off of the conversation, tells Alex her dad isn’t allowed to watch WSB-TV anymore because he and her mom got in a fight about the crush he has on Alex.

 

Alex turns bright red, but Kelley acts like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard and gives Alex hell for it the rest of the night.

 

“Hey homewrecker, you about ready?” Kelley murmurs, nudging Alex gently.

 

“Shut up,” Alex groans. “That is not going to become a thing. I’m ready, just let me grab my check.”

 

“No worries,” Kelley says. “It’s all taken care of.”

 

Alex narrows her eyes. “By the school?”

 

“It’s taken care of,” Kelley insists. Alex looks around, noticing some of the girls have left and nobody seems particularly concerned with the tab. “You ready?”

 

When they get up, a chorus of voices thanks Kelley for dinner and their sodas, and she reminds them that it’s a special treat for their first win and it’s back to nutrition and fitness first thing tomorrow.

 

“You can’t just keep buying me food,” Alex chastises as they walk outside to the car. “I shouldn’t even be accepting this ride from you. All sorts of unethical.”

 

“I didn’t buy you food, I bought everyone food,” Kelley says, starting the engine. “It would have been rude to not include you. And the ride is helping the environment so we didn’t have to take two cars here. That’s very ethical.”

 

Alex smirks. “I can’t imagine a high school soccer coach is making quite as much as an international soccer superstar.”

 

“And your point?”

 

“Don’t you think you’re living beyond your means a bit?”

 

“Don’t you think that’s an awfully rude question to ask someone you just met five days ago?” Kelley retorts. Alex turns bright red, and she fumbles for her next words. “I’m joking. I like that you’re curious about me, it’s kind of flattering.”

 

“It’s kind of my job,” Alex mumbles.

 

“I’m not worried,” Kelley says. “Maybe someday I’ll be more responsible, but not today. And giving gifts is my love language. It’s how I show people I care about them. If I spent every last dime on other people, it wouldn’t be enough. Plus I live with my parents, remember?”

 

Alex laughs. “How could I forget?”

 

Kelley reaches to turn up the radio, presumably to change the subject. “I love this song,” she says, humming along until they reach the school parking lot. “You know,” she says, pulling into the spot next to Alex’s car. “I do trust you. I don’t know why, and I know it has more to do with than just you being Tobin’s friend, but I can’t put my finger on it. But I find myself wanting to tell you things. Like, random things, I don’t know. I saw something in the newspaper this morning and wanted to tell you and then I was like ‘she works in the news, you doofus, of course she saw it.’”

 

“You should have!”

 

Kelley shakes her head, smiling at nothing in particular. “I just feel like eventually you’re going to know all my secrets whether I like it or not.”

 

“Yeah?” Alex asks. “Then why don’t you go ahead and just spill them all now?”

 

Kelley seems to be weighing her options as she looks around the empty parking lot before turning back to Alex and curling her lips into a half-smile. “Because then what would keep you coming back for more?”


	4. rule #4: keep your sources close

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex finally gets the greenlight to start an exciting project, and Kelley starts to learn her secrets.

In an effort to get her week off to a better start than the week prior, Alex wakes up bright and early on Monday so she is at the office in plenty of time to get coffee and start answering emails well before the budget meeting.

 

Unfortunately, that means she's the first reporter in the building and Jill notices her as soon as she walks in.

 

“Morgan, just the person I wanted to see,” Jill announces, her voice way too caffeinated for Alex’s still-waking brain. “Can I have a word in my office?”

 

“Uh, yeah,” Alex says, scrambling for a notepad. Their one-on-one meetings are usually scheduled for the middle of the week, but they didn't have one last week because things got so busy.

 

“Have a seat,” Jill says when she gets into the office, motioning to the chairs in front of her desk. “How was your weekend?”

 

“Good, thanks,” Alex says. “And yours?”

 

“Fine,” Jill replies, not looking up from the papers in front of her. “I wanted to talk to you about an opportunity.”

 

Alex straightens up in her chair. This is it. The anchor position she's been working her ass off for is finally hers. “Okay.”

 

“I owe you an apology,” Jill says. “Last week you told me about a story you wanted to cover and I dismissed it.”

 

Alex racks her brain for any rejected pitches, but she comes up short, her face reflecting her confusion.

 

“The coach story,” Jill says. “Over the weekend it was shared more than 50,000 times across all platforms.”

 

Alex’s eyes widen. A good story might get shared a couple thousand of times, but that number is unheard of.

 

“You were right, there's more to the story,” Jill admits. “Even the piece covering the game had an enormous reaction.”

 

“Well, I'm glad,” Alex says. “It's a cool story.”

 

“I agree. Which is why I wanted to propose a feature. A long-form story about the coach. Who she is, how she got here, why the hell people are so interested.”

 

“She's local,” Alex laughs. “A local girl who made it big time and is back now to mentor youth.” It seems pretty obvious to her, but then again, Jill hadn’t scrolled through years of Kelley’s Instagram and months of her Twitter.

 

“Yes, but why?” Jill repeats. “She has fans. Who knew women's soccer had such a following?”

 

Alex snorts softly. She lived with Tobin for five years, so she definitely knew.

 

“I don't want to give you a deadline on this right this second,” Jill says. “A few weeks, maybe. We’ll connect at the end of the week to see how it’s going. I want photo, video, the whole nine.”

 

“I’d love to,” Alex agrees, nodding. She already has a plan in her mind for exactly the layout she wants and the different ways she can write it. “But I just want to be clear here. My goals haven't changed. And if I'm going to be focusing so much time and energy on this story, I want to be sure I'm not missing out on other opportunities that would put me in the best position for an anchor role.”

 

“Trust me,” Jill says, smiling warmly. “If this goes as well as I believe it will with you at the helm, I think we can fast-track that plan.”

 

~

 

Allie knows something’s up as soon as she gets to her desk because Alex can’t stop grinning. “Did you get laid or something?” she asks.

 

“Better,” Alex whispers conspiratorially. She’s all set to tell Allie the whole story when Tobin and Christen walk in, laughing about something. “We’ll talk later.”

 

“Did you have fun after I left Friday?” Tobin asks, stopping at the barrier between Allie and Alex’s desks.

 

“Mhm,” Alex murmurs in response.

 

Tobin crosses her arms uneasily and nods. “Well, Kelley’s great. I’m glad you two met.”

 

When she walks away, Allie gives Alex one of her famous “you’ve got to be kidding me” looks. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she says.

 

“Allie,” Alex sighs.

 

“No, this is ridiculous,” Allie says. “I know you’re still pissed, but you were best friends, you know. She’s still the same person. And I’m kind of sick of having to hang out with you guys separately. Plus, Christen’s actually really nice.”

 

“Thanks for the input,” Alex says drily, thankful for once that their conversation is interrupted by Jill calling the budget meeting to order.

 

“What were you going to tell me before?” Allie whispers.

 

“Nothing,” Alex grumbles back.

 

~

 

One person who reacts with the exact enthusiasm Alex wants, of course, is Kelley, who invites Alex over to the school “ASAP!!!” so they can talk about the story.

 

“So they really just want you to like, follow me around and annoy me with your persistent questions?” Kelley asks once Alex has explained the pitch. There’s a twinkle in her eyes that puts Alex at ease.

 

“Shut up, you like them,” Alex says, rolling her eyes playfully. “But yes. Essentially.”

 

“And this is going to be about my current gig, right?”

 

“Yes,” Alex answers. “Well, it’s going to be about you. Which means I might need some color, you know, some childhood coaches, maybe your family. And I can’t just gloss over your National Team career.”

 

Kelley chews on her lip, thinking it over. “I’m not giving you anything extra just because I like you.”

 

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Alex says, even though it’s a total lie. She knows she’ll get better access to the story now that she has a relationship with Kelley than anyone else would. “But this also means no more buying me dinner or coffee or anything. I’m actively working on a story, so that would be inappropriate.”

 

“Got it,” Kelley says. “So I can’t offer you a chocolate milk?” Alex raises her eyebrows, and Kelley grins. “I have a fridge full of them for the girls after training. I had a sponsorship while I was still playing. It’s actually really good for recovery.”

 

“Oh, that’s good,” Alex says, whipping out her notepad to jot that down. “I’ll also want to talk to the principal here, athletic director, whatever.”

 

“Your wish is my command,” Kelley says. “If I can’t buy you stuff does that mean our friendship is on hold?”

 

Alex laughs. “You have a weird idea of friendship, you know.”

 

“Oh come on,” Kelley chides. “I’ve always been like this, just ask Tobin.”

 

Alex uncrosses her legs just to recross them, looking around the room. “You don’t have to do that.”

 

“Do what?”

 

“Bring her up all the time,” Alex says, looking Kelley straight in the eye. “I know you just do it because she’s something we have in common, but you and I have plenty other stuff in common. She and I aren’t really that close anymore.”

 

“Okay,” Kelley says slowly. “I’m sorry. I just—I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s okay,” Alex assures her, but she knows it doesn’t sound very convincing.

 

“I thought—weren’t you roommates till not too long ago?”

 

“Five years,” Alex says with a tight smile.

 

“Alright,” Kelley says, drawing out the word as long as she can. “Wait, you two weren’t like…” She wiggles her fingers and eyebrows suggestively.

 

“No!” Alex exclaims. “She’s—no. We weren’t together. She’s not my type.”

 

“Not your type because she’s a girl, or not your type because you’re not into the lanky thing?”

 

Alex’s eyes widen, surprised that Kelley would be so forward. “Um, the latter,” she says. “I do—I like women. And men. But Tobin and I were just friends, always. I never had a crush on her, she never had a crush on me. Just friends.”

 

“But not friends anymore.” Kelley says, almost as if she’s just making sure. Alex sighs, and Kelley gives her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry,” she says. “Do you want to talk about it?”

 

“Not really, no,” Alex replies.

 

Kelley smirks. “Do you want to put together a list of all the people you can talk about me behind my back with?”

 

“Yes please,” Alex says, cracking a smile as she pulls out her laptop. “First names, last names, phone numbers, and email addresses please.”

 

Thirty minutes later, Alex has a comprehensive list of basically everyone Kelley’s ever interacted with on a meaningful level, and she wants nothing more than to sink her teeth into it and start calling them all, but she has another story to cover for the 11 o’clock news, so she reluctantly heads back to the office, where she gets her story packaged in record time. Her brain is eager to focus on this new project, almost to the point that she stops thinking about Jill’s promise—almost.

 

~

 

Kelley’s team has a midweek away game that they win 2-1, which Alex finds out thanks to Twitter updates, but even if she hadn’t, Kelley makes sure to text her a recap with lots of exclamation points and emojis. She also invites Alex to a “team-building activity” at her house on Friday afternoon, where she promises Alex can meet her parents for their interviews and see some of Kelley’s off-the-field coaching in action. Besides that, Kelley is tight-lipped on the activity itself, which only serves to intrigue Alex.

 

Alex opts out of bringing a film crew with her, worried about intruding on the team-building activity and freaking out Kelley’s parents before she even gets a chance to sit down with them, but she does borrow Allie’s best camera, which she promises to take good care of.

 

Kelley’s house is beautiful in an unassuming way. Even from the outside you can tell it’s filled with love and laughter and that someone (Kelley’s parents, more specifically) worked hard to make it a reality. When she pulls into the circular drive, the whole team is spread out on the front lawn in groups of five, each girl wearing a bandana on her wrist or ankle or forehead, the color according to which group she is in.

 

“Just in time!” Kelley exclaims when Alex gets out of the car. “You all know our good friend Alex, say hi!”

 

“Hi, Alex!” they all call, full of giggles and excitement.

 

“I was just telling them the rules for our scavenger hunt,” Kelley explains. “They’re taking golf carts around to different landmarks and they have to do certain activities once they get there. They’re all worth different point values, and it’s a race. The rules are to be respectful and remember you’re representing Starr’s Mill at all times, absolutely no hanging off of golf carts, and have fun! You guys have to be back here before dark or you’re disqualified, but I’ll send a text ten minutes before you need to be back here. Whoever has the most points wins a prize for their team.”

 

Alex smiles as she surveys the girls, snapping pictures with Allie’s camera.

 

“Everyone, get to your golf carts!” Kelley exclaims. Alex snaps away as the girls run to the golf carts that are lined up at the end of the driveway. “On your marks, get set, go!” She watches until the last cart is out of sight before turning to Alex. “Is this the worst idea I’ve ever had?”

 

“I haven’t known you long enough to tell,” Alex laughs. “They look pretty pumped.”

 

“They’re pumped not to be doing conditioning,” Kelley corrects. “Come on in, my parents are dying to meet you. I think Erin is going to stop by after work, too, so you can kill three birds with one stone.”

 

“This is awesome, Kelley, thank you so much for being so cool about this. A lot of sources like to make my life more difficult, not the other way.”

 

“You did a decent job on the first two stories, so I figured if I’d trust anyone to make me look good, it’d be you.”

 

“Not once your mom breaks out the baby pictures,” a deep voice says. Alex looks up to see a man who must be Kelley’s dad, Dan, standing in the front door.

 

“Dad, this is Alex. Alex, my dad, Dan.”

 

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Alex says, shrugging her bag onto her left shoulder so she can shake his hand. “You have a beautiful home.”

 

“Well, come on in and see the rest of it,” he says, opening the door to reveal the set-up inside. There are tables of Doritos and pretzels and veggies and hummus, and all the furniture in the open floor plan is arranged to accommodate 20 high school girls. “Kelley, don’t forget to order the pizza.”

 

“I did,” Kelley groans, sounding every bit the whiny high schooler who still lives with her parents. Alex figures that’s probably pretty fitting. “Alex, do you want a soda? Water?”

 

“A Diet Coke would be great,” Alex answers, looking around. “This is quite the set-up.”

 

“Kelley likes to go all out,” Dan says. “When she gets an idea, she doesn’t do it halfway.”

 

“Any chance I could get you to say that on tape?” Alex asks, a smile spreading across her face.

 

“You bet,” he agrees. “Sit down, make yourself comfortable, I’ll go get my wife.”

 

“Am I allowed to listen?” Kelley asks, handing Alex her soda.

 

“Not a chance,” Alex says, taking a sip. “But thanks for the drink. For the next one can you slip me some bourbon?”

 

“Long week?” Kelley asks.

 

“You have no idea.”

 

Kelley winks. “I’ll see what I can do.”

 

~

 

Alex has had a lot of enjoyable interviews in her life, but she’s never felt quite as ease as she does with Kelley’s parents. She makes herself comfortable on a loveseat while they sit on an adjacent couch. She’s always determined to do interviews from anywhere but across from the subject, as she finds that positioning makes them more standoffish, like they’re on the defensive when it comes to Alex’s questions. They’re both just as charming and kind as Kelley, and as promised, Karen comes armed with baby pictures and story after story about Kelley’s childhood. Dan offers up his side of the chipmunk-domestication story. They laugh and joke, and Alex’s hand starts to cramp with how much she’s writing.

 

When the conversation leads to Kelley’s National Team career, though, Karen’s mood changes visibly. She answers Alex’s questions dutifully, but the conversation doesn’t flow naturally like it had before.

 

“Seeing Kelley score a goal during the World Cup was definitely a highlight of my life,” Dan says, jumping in. “We’re so proud of everything she accomplished. Every time we called her during camps—we had weekly FaceTime dates—she always sounded so happy. Even if she had no Olympic or World Cup gold medals to speak of, just knowing she was ever that happy is all a parent wants.”

 

“Were you surprised, then?” Alex asks. “When she decided to retire?”

 

Dan clears his throat, shifting in his seat and placing a hang on Karen’s knee. “I don’t think it was an ideal situation,” he says. “I know it was an extremely difficult position for Kelley to be in, but I think she handled her retirement with grace, just like she’s handled everything else she’s ever done. Now she’s in a new chapter, and I know she’s going to succeed at this and anything else she ever sets her mind to.”

 

“Are we good?” Karen asks. “Like, can we be done for now? I think the girls are coming soon, so I want to make sure everything’s set for them.”

 

“Um, yeah,” Alex says. “That’s no problem. I really appreciate your time, and thank you both for having me over.”

 

“It’s been a pleasure talking to you,” Karen says warmly, leaning forward to squeeze Alex’s hand in between hers before getting up to busy herself in the foyer.

 

“It’s still really new to us,” Dan confides. “Kelley’s handling everything way better than we are, I think.”

 

“Her retirement?”

 

“Yeah,” he replies. “We all thought she’d be doing it for… God, I don’t think any of us ever anticipated she’d stop.”

 

“So why did she?” Alex asks, cursing herself in her head as soon as the words leave her mouth.

 

Dan looks confused. “Aren’t you two friends?”

 

“Well, I mean,” Alex says, fumbling for an explanation. “We just met last week. I’ve been covering the team a little bit.”

 

“Right,” Dan says. “That’s right. Sorry, I just feel like we’ve heard so much about you that it felt like you two have known each other longer. Don’t tell Kelley I said that, she’ll kill me.”

  
Alex blushes. “It’s fine,” she says. “Thanks again so much for your time.”

 

“Of course,” he says. “And if you need anything further, I’d be happy to help. Karen too. I promise she’s usually much more chipper.”

 

“No problem,” Alex says. “If I were about to have a house full of teenage girls, I’d probably be a bit stressed myself.”

 

Of course, as excited as the girls are when they return from their scavenger hunt, they’re still polite and respectful and they do their very best to use their inside voices. In fact, Kelley is probably the loudest most of the time.

 

Kelley lights up every room she’s in, so much so that Alex feels blinded sometimes. Everything seems to spin around her, like she’s the sun, and she’s so bright and warm that it only makes sense that people seem to gravitate toward her. Even when Alex tries to hang back and observe, Kelley pulls her in one way or another.

 

Erin shows up a little while after the girls, but Alex can’t pull herself away from the crowd long enough to sit down with her, though she figures she’ll have plenty of opportunity to do so eventually. At one point, while Alex is furiously scribbling something in her notebook, Kelley excuses herself from the pack and sits beside her to check in.

 

“Writing something about me?” she asks jokingly.

 

“That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?” Alex replies, smiling.

 

“Nah, you’re here as my guest,” Kelley says. “Want to do something fun in a minute?”

 

“Sure,” Alex says slowly, letting Kelley pull her to her feet.

 

“You’re going to want your camera for this.”

 

She’s right, of course, because when she leads everyone outside for a bonfire, Alex can’t believe how beautiful the sight is. It’s cold, so everyone huddles near the blazing fire as they roast marshmallows for s’mores, and Alex can’t help but take a few pictures when Kelley isn’t looking, her face lit by the flames as she laughs at whatever story one of the girls is telling.

 

There’s something special about when Kelley pays direct attention to you, Alex realizes. All the players can feel it because as soon as she locks eyes with them and listens, they communicate so differently. Alex wonders if she does too, because her brain turns to mush when Kelley sits next to her and asks her—genuinely—how she’s doing and if she’s enjoying herself.

 

“This is amazing,” Alex says. “Your scavenger hunt was so cute and creative, and this party is so fun. This definitely isn’t how I spent my Friday nights in high school.”

 

Kelley laughs. “Me neither. I remember what I was like and what my teammates were like, so I wanted to come up with something a little more productive, I guess. It wasn’t mandatory or anything, so I’m really glad they all showed up and stayed.”

 

“Of course they did, you’re the coolest,” Alex says, blushing as the words come out of her mouth. “If I had some cool big sister type of sports coach who actively wanted to hang out with me, I’d do it all the time.”

 

“I’ll be your big sister sports coach,” Kelley offers teasingly. “I’ve been actively trying to hang out with you since the day we met.”

 

“You’re not even a year older than me,” Alex reminds her. “Lucky you, though, you don’t even have to try anymore. My boss is making me hang out with you.”

 

“Ouch, that hurts.”

 

Alex shrugs, smirking playfully. “Truth hurts.”

 

“Tell me about it.” Kelley pops a piece of chocolate into her mouth and offers one to Alex, who gladly accepts. “Listen, I wanted to apologize again. For all the Tobin stuff. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable, and even though she’s my friend, I still want to be yours.”

 

“It’s really okay,” Alex says. “It’s not that we’re not friends, we’ve just been through a lot in the past few months. And now she kinda does her own thing and I do mine.”

 

“Does it have to do with Christen?” Alex bristles at her name, and try as she might to hide it, Kelley notices. “Ah.”

 

“It’s really not like that,” Alex says. “It’s a long story.”

 

“I have time.”

 

Alex bites her lip. “Maybe when they’re all gone.”

 

Kelley nods her understanding. “Does that mean you’ll stick around?”

 

“I’m still waiting for that bourbon.”

 

~

 

Alex gets her bourbon the minute the last girl leaves. The most surprising part of the entire night is how spotless the house is, credit partly to Karen for being a “clean as you go” devotee, and partly to the girls on Kelley’s team for picking up after themselves before leaving. After tying together a few trash bags, Kelley suggests they go for a ride in the golf cart.

 

Her backyard is right on a golf course, and as she drives over the bumpy land to reach the cart path, Kelley recounts times that she would come out there to run around in the sprinklers with friends during the summer and how it had resulted in one or two golf ball concussions when they were out there and shouldn’t have been.

 

“Does being here make you feel like a kid again?” Alex asks.

 

“I think it does,” Kelley answers. “I had a lot more friends when I was younger, though, so sometimes it feels lonely.”

 

“You have your family,” Alex says. “It doesn’t feel lonely in your house.”

 

“I work really hard to never be alone,” Kelley says after a brief pause. “When you leave, I’m going to feel it. It’s okay, though, I’m learning to embrace the quiet. I’m just not quite there enough yet to get my own place. I like hearing cupboards closing and the garage door when my dad gets home.”

 

“So how does a person who loves being around people that much find herself leaving what seems like the perfect place for someone like her and retiring?”

 

Kelley smiles. “Your thing first.”

 

“My thing?”

 

“The Tobin thing.”

 

“Right,” Alex remembers, breathing out. “Well first of all, you can’t make fun of me if it seems stupid or dramatic.”

 

“I would never,” Kelley promises, her face genuinely baffled like she can’t believe Alex would ever think she’d do something like that.

 

“So Tobin was my best friend when I first moved here. She and Allie—that’s my roommate—and I were inseparable, and we all got a place together. Everything was great, it was the perfect set-up. Allie has a long-term boyfriend who we both loved, and Tobin and I were perpetually single, but if we ever had anyone over it was never a big deal.”

 

“I want to come back to these visitors,” Kelley interjects with a toothy smile.

 

“Maybe another day,” Alex laughs. “About two years ago, Christen started at the station. She was nice and whatever, but I never really got the hype. Everyone was obsessed with her like she was the hot new thing, and it irritated me because I’d been working so hard for three years for the same kind of recognition she just swooped in and stole.”

 

“Story of a soccer player’s life.”

 

“Basically, Allie and I were civil to her, but Tobin was really nice. We teased her about having a crush, and she always denied it, but she was always weirdly insistent that we be nice to her and invite her to things. It was just kind of awkward.”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Next thing you know, an anchor position opens up, and both of us go for it. I had seniority, which is important, but it doesn’t always mean that much. The interview process is so long, and there are one-on-ones and panel interviews and screen tests, but everyone knows the real tipping point is always the peer recommendations. The whole newsroom gets an email saying who’s applying and you’re encouraged to send in your thoughts about each, and they read some of them in your panel interviews. Anonymously, of course.”

 

“That sounds heinous.”

 

“It is a little,” Alex agrees. “But it works. Most of the time nobody’s going to go out of their way to write something bad, so most of the references are complimentary or else you know who hates you enough to say certain things. Anyway, as you could probably figure out yourself, Christen got the job and I didn’t. I was bummed, and it didn’t really help the whole not liking Christen thing, but it happens.”

 

Kelley nods, watching Alex as she talks and plays with her fingers nervously.

 

“I still don’t really know exactly when Tobin started dating Christen because she didn’t tell me at first because she knew I wasn’t Christen’s biggest fan,” Alex continues. “And when I found out she made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal and I was overreacting, which I didn’t think was very fair.”

 

“Yeah, I mean if you’re best friends, there are certain things you tell each other.”

 

“Right!” Alex exclaims. “So that was annoying, and then she spent less and less time at the apartment or hanging out with us at all, which was even more annoying.”

 

“I can imagine.”

 

“That’s not it,” Alex says. “I’m not that petty. At least I don’t think I am. Remember how I told you about the references and the panel interviews? Allie wasn’t interviewing, so she was one of the panelists, and she got all the references people had submitted for the final interviewees. Back in—God, I don’t know, October? November?—she had left her phone charger at work, so she texted me to get it and bring it back to her. She told me the drawer it was in and when I opened it, the first thing I saw was Tobin’s glowing review of Christen and why she was undoubtedly the best person for the position.”

 

Kelley cringes. “Jesus,” she breathes. “And what did she say about you?”

 

“Nothing,” Alex says. “She didn’t even fill one out for me.”

 

Kelley lets out a low whistle. “Damn.”

 

“No kidding. I confronted her about it, and she was full of excuses and no apologies. It was the worst I’ve ever been hurt by a friend, and I had my fair share of stolen boyfriends in high school. Two weeks later she moved out and moved in with Christen.”

 

“That’s horrible,” Kelley says. “I can’t believe—”

 

“I know you’re friends,” Alex says. “I didn’t want to talk about it and have it change your perception of any of us. And we’re… civil, I guess. But when someone used to be your best friend, going from that to barely tolerating them is hard.”

 

“No, no, I know,” Kelley says. “It’s okay, I’m glad you told me. I’m really sorry that happened, but I like knowing things about you. It makes this whole friend thing feel a little more balanced.”

 

“Why, because I know all your secrets?” Alex teases, sticking the tip of her tongue out between her teeth.

 

“Not all,” Kelley says, turning the golf cart wheel to start heading back to the house. “Not even close.”


	5. rule #5: everything is on the record

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex finds herself in uncharted territory, and Kelley is the queen of awkward situations.

As Alex digs into Kelley’s past and makes appointments to interview past teammates and friends, Alex remembers her passion for reporting. She knows she's good at her job, and she knows how to take a story, report it, and cut it down to fit on a broadcast where every second counts, but this is what she went into journalism for.

 

She loves fine-tuning details and getting to the heart of a story that makes people feel. She loves taking a subject that some people won't even care about and weaving a tale that will grip them through the end and leave them feeling sated but always wanting more. There's no better compliment than to receive an email from a reader or viewer asking for a follow-up on a story she reported in the past.

 

She spends the week interviewing so many people that she doesn't get a chance to meet with Kelley, but she finds herself with a free afternoon on Thursday, so she texts Kelley to see what she's up to.

 

“Heather O’Reilly has been hands-down my fave interview so far. Are you busy today? Can I stop by?”

 

“Soooo busy,” Kelley replies. “Kidding, doing the same thing as always. Please come! We don't have training, gals are resting up for big game this weekend. You're on the list now btw so you can just come on down.”

 

“Great, be there in an hour.” Alex can't help the rush of adrenaline that comes over her when Kelley says she added her to the permanent list at school. Now all she’ll have to do is sign in and flash her ID at the secretary who always seems like she hates her life instead of waiting around for Kelley to meet her in the front office. It also means that Kelley thought about her at some point this week, which makes Alex’s heart flutter. With appreciation, probably.

 

Kelley was right, she realizes as she walks through the gym hallway. The smell isn't so awful now, especially now that it's a little more familiar. And as she gets closer to the glowing beacon at the end of the hallway, she focuses less on the smell of the hallway than the smell of popcorn coming from Kelley’s office.

 

“You're here!” Kelley exclaims when Alex pops her head in the doorway. “Close the door behind you or else as soon as the bell rings we’ll get an influx of visitors who can smell the popcorn.”

 

“It smells amazing,” Alex says, closing the door and setting her bag on a chair.

 

“That's because it's special popcorn,” Kelley says, like she's telling a secret.

 

“Last time I ate something someone referred to as special, I thought my fingers were green beans,” Alex says, thinking back to college.

 

“Not like that,” Kelley laughs, carrying the bowl over to the couch in the corner of the room. “But that reminds me, I need to add special brownies to my post-athletic career bucket list.”

 

“Don't they drug test here?”

 

“Damn it, you're right,” Kelley says. “Okay, post-teaching career bucket list then.”

 

Alex sits on the other side of the couch and takes a handful of popcorn. “Holy shit,” she says mid-mouthful. “This is pretty special.”

 

“Thank you for telling me what I already know,” Kelley retorts. “So what did HAO tell you? Anything juicy?”

 

“I know all about how you tried to kill her in training pretty much every day.”

 

“Yeah, they had to start putting us on the same team so that wouldn't happen,” Kelley laughs. “If that's the most damaging thing you got out of her, I guess the hundred bucks I slipped her worked.”

 

“I did not hear that,” Alex says, covering her ears. “The one common thing I've gotten from everyone I've talked to is that you're the most competitive person they've ever met and one of the most fun to be around.”

 

“One of?” Kelley asks. “I'm offended.”

 

“HAO also said you were the biggest flirt on the team, a fact of which I was already well aware.”

 

“You haven't seen flirting yet,” Kelley says. “Just wait till you see me get out of a speeding ticket.”

 

~

 

“So you got thrown out of your last college game ever?” Alex asks, still in awe. She knew that from her extensive Kelley research, but hearing Kelley tell the story adds another layer entirely.

 

“It still hurts,” Kelley admits. “The girl who I fouled, she was on the National Team with me. We were friends eventually, but it was seriously hard for me to be around her the first few camps.”

 

“Yeah, I bet,” Alex says. “So needless to say, your girls will be a lot more careful.”

 

“Are you kidding? Go big or go home. These girls will never go easy on anyone if I have anything to say about it.”

 

Alex laughs and shakes her head. “You're unbelievable.”

 

“I'll take that as a compliment.”

 

“It was meant as one!” Alex insists. She reaches for another handful of popcorn, but it's long gone, so she pouts instead.

 

“Sorry,” Kelley says. “I had the last bite. Actually, you know what? I’m not sorry, you ate the vast majority of my popcorn.”

 

“Yeah, because you wouldn't shut up!” Alex laughs.

 

“That usually makes me a reporter’s dream interview,” Kelley says.

 

“Not as long as you hold out on whatever your big secret is,” Alex says.

 

“There's no secret,” Kelley says, leaning back on the arm of her chair. She sighs when Alex gives her a look. “If I could tell you, I promise you I would.”

 

“I don't understand.”

 

“I know,” Kelley says. “I really like talking to you and hanging out with you, but you're still a reporter. You're more used to this than I am.”

 

“I'm not really,” Alex says, sitting up in her seat. “I've never had… this is new to me too.”

 

“Then can this next part be off the record?” Kelley asks, looking pointedly at Alex’s tape recorder.

 

“Um, yeah,” Alex says, fumbling for the pause button. “Sure.”

 

“Good, because I want to keep this between you and me,” Kelley says, pausing for a moment to look straight into Alex’s eyes before leaning forward to capture Alex’s lips with her own.

 

Alex inhales sharply, but her hand comes up to grab the back of Kelley’s neck, holding her there. She can still taste the salt and butter on Kelley’s lips, and they taste even better than the special popcorn did.

 

Her fingertips dig into Kelley’s skin, her thumb rubbing at the nape of her neck. She tilts her head to the right, parting her lips to deepen the kiss.

 

Instead of taking the invitation, Kelley pulls back, inhaling deeply before opening her eyes to meet Alex’s. “Wow,” she exhales.

 

“Wow is right,” Alex replies. “Kelley, I—”

 

“Don't say it,” Kelley groans. “I know that was bad, but I needed to do it.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you're beautiful,” Kelley says. “And I'm weak.”

 

Alex laughs. “You aren't weak.”

 

“I thought I could go at least a few more meetings without doing that,” Kelley says. “I really hoped I could contain myself till the story was over, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

 

“How long have you been thinking about it?”

 

“You want the cheesy real answer or do you want me to lie?” Alex rolls her eyes, and Kelley grins. “The first time you showed up here. And then again in the car on the way to Taco Mac. And also on the way back. Oh, and at my house by the fire, the golf cart… I could go on.”

 

“Please do,” Alex says, giggling uncharacteristically.

 

“I couldn't stand it anymore after watching you crush that popcorn,” Kelley says.

 

“If there's anything I can do, it's eat,” Alex says, her hand resting on Kelley’s knee. “Before we, uh, go back on the record,” she says, picking up her tape recorder. “We should talk about this.”

 

“Or I could just kiss you again,” Kelley suggests, leaning back in.

 

Alex puts a finger to Kelley’s lips, forcing her away. “As much as I would enjoy that, this is not okay. At least not until the story’s over.”

 

“Then wrap it up,” Kelley whines. “I'll tell you everything you ever wanted to know.”

 

Alex studies Kelley’s face for a moment then groans.

 

“What?”

 

“This is why,” she says. “Now I don't even want to ask you about your mystery retirement and your fancy-ass office. I mean, I still want to know, just as me, not a reporter.”

 

“I'd be happy to tell you as you,” Kelley says.

 

“But I'm not me,” Alex says. “Not now. I've been Alex Morgan from WSB-TV the whole time we've known each other.”

 

“I don't want to mess things up for you at work,” Kelley says. “I know you have a job to do. But I'd really like to get to know you as just Alex. And let you get to know me. When is the story over?”

 

“I don't know,” Alex says. “I don't really have a deadline. In the next few weeks I guess. When I have something worthy of an anchor role.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“My boss basically said if I blew this out of the water I could get promoted.”

 

“That would be amazing!” Kelley exclaims.

 

“But… that's probably another reason I shouldn't get involved with a source,” Alex says, smiling sadly. 

 

“I promise I'm a lot more than this story,” Kelley says.

 

“Yeah, you're also an excellent popcorn maker.”

 

“And a great kisser.”

 

“I'm not sure I could tell,” Alex teases.

 

“I can prove it.”

 

Alex is powerless this time to stop Kelley when she leans back in for another (deeper, longer) kiss. She pulls Kelley on top of her as she leans back, throwing all caution to the wind.

 

“I'm ticklish!” Alex squeals when Kelley’s lips move to her neck.

 

“Shush, it’s sexy,” Kelley murmurs, her hand sliding under the hem of Alex’s shirt to play at the smooth skin on her back as the bell rings.

 

“Okay, pause,” Alex says breathlessly, sitting up.

 

“That bell doesn't dismiss you,” Kelley teases.

 

“We can't get carried away.”

 

“Too late for that.”

 

Alex groans. “I'm so into this it physically pains me to stop.”

 

“I'm with you,” Kelley says. “So. What do we do?”

 

“First we move so we aren't on this make-out couch,” Alex suggests, standing up to adjust her shirt and smooth her hair.

 

“Make-out couch, I like that,” Kelley laughs, following Alex’s lead and standing up to go sit behind her desk.

 

No sooner does she sit down than does her door fly open, sending Alex’s heartbeat into overdrive.

 

“Oh, hi!” the girl says. “Sorry, I didn't know you were with someone.”

 

“No worries, what's up?” Kelley asks, her face flushed. “Alex, this is Faith, one of my players.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” Alex says, shaking her hand. “I'm, uh, just gonna go.”

 

“No, stay!” Kelley insists. Her eyes plead with Alex, but Alex shakes her head. “I'll call you.”

 

“Yeah,” Alex says. “So we can, uh, find some time for you to come down to the station.”

 

“Yeah, right,” Kelley says, nodding eagerly.

 

Alex waves goodbye and closes the door behind her, the highway suddenly flooded with students bustling through to get to their cars or buses. She feels like the walls are closing in around her, and she can't hear anything except her pounding heartbeat. Yeah, this is definitely new to her as well.

 

~

 

Alex spends the rest of the day overthinking the hell out of what to do next. She considers telling Allie, but the last thing she wants to do is pull someone else into an already impossible ethical conundrum. She knows Kelley knows better than to talk to Tobin about it, but she's going out of her mind with possibility.

 

Kelley breaks the (maybe imagined) silence with a text right around the time Alex finds herself cozy in bed with a cup of hot chocolate and a full bag of marshmallows. “Can't stop thinking about you.”

 

“Same,” Alex replies, pressing pause on the true crime Netflix documentary that was just getting good. “We should probably talk about this.”

 

“Can I take you to dinner?”

 

Alex smiles, but she knows better than to get swept up again. It’s hard enough when Kelley is right in front of her, all crinkly nose and sparkly eyes. “You know the answer to that.”

 

“I'll let you pay :)”

 

“How about we split it?” Alex suggests. “I'll come to your game tomorrow then we can go out after.”

 

“Ummm not sure,” Kelley replies.

 

“Are you taking all those girls out again? You're insane.”

 

“Haha,” Kelley replies. “I'm not. Tobin and Christen are coming to the game…”

 

Alex feels chilly all of a sudden, and her toes clench as she types back. “Ah. Gotcha.”

 

“I just don't want you to feel awkward,” Kelley says. “I’d love for you to come. And come home with me.”

 

“Don't get ahead of yourself,” Alex says, blushing furiously.

 

“Shut up,” Kelley says. “My dad is making steaks, that's what I meant.”

 

“Riiiiight.”

 

“My brother and sister will be around,” Kelley says. “I know you've been looking for a good time to interview them.”

 

“Is this where you get your kicks? Putting me in impossible situations?” Alex can’t imagine herself being civil with Tobin and Christen long enough to have a peaceful dinner with Kelley’s family, let alone sitting through a 90-minute soccer game with them probably cuddled up and huddled for warmth.

 

Kelley sends back a sad face emoji.

 

“Does it look weird if I show up to your house after the game without actually having gone to the game?”

 

“To quote my favorite reporter… you know the answer to that.”

 

Alex groans to herself, lying back on her bed and holding her phone at arm’s length overhead. The absolute last thing she wants is for Tobin to find out—or even suspect—about her and Kelley, but even that seems preferable to third-wheeling on one of her dates with Christen, which is undoubtedly what will end up happening if she goes to the game.

 

The other option, of course, is to pass entirely and interview Kelley’s siblings another day, but that also means not seeing Kelley until God knows when and having to sit with all these thoughts (some well beyond PG-13) until whenever that is.

 

Alex takes a deep breath and rolls over to her side, tapping out her words carefully. “God, you're lucky you're cute.”


	6. rule #6: keep your eyes on the prize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex surprises even herself with the lengths she's willing to go for Kelley.

Alex thought she was being clever when she purposely stayed vague about her Friday night plans, hoping Allie would be curious and ask what she was doing and then volunteer to save her from the most awkward third-wheel experience of her life.

 

On the contrary, the second Allie heard Alex would be out for the majority of the night, she called her boyfriend to make plans for a night in, covering up the mouthpiece to make absolute sure that Alex wouldn’t be home before midnight. So now not only is Alex stuck with these plans, she also has to make them work for seven whole hours to avoid Allie’s obnoxiously loud sex.

 

“Hey Al, you want a ride?” Tobin asks, walking up to her desk.

 

“I’m good,” Alex replies without looking up, busying herself with the emails she’s been meaning to delete for weeks.

 

“Okay.” Tobin doesn’t move, and Alex is finally forced to look up at her.

 

“Can I help you?”

 

Tobin takes that as an invitation to sit in Allie’s empty chair. “Can we talk?”

 

Alex sighs heavily. “What’s up?”

 

“I’m really glad you’re coming tonight,” she says. “But can you at least try to be nice to Christen?”

 

Alex stares at her for a moment, narrowing her eyes. “Are you kidding?”

 

“I’m not.”

 

“You’re a piece of work,” Alex says. “No, I’m not going to be mean to your precious girlfriend, and I’m offended that you’d think I’d be anything less than cordial and professional to her. You’re the one you should be worried about.”

 

“It wasn’t cordial or professional when you brought gifts for everyone’s Christmas stocking except hers,” Tobin says.

 

Every Christmas, each new staff member gets to decorate a Christmas stocking to hang on the bulletin board in the lounge, and in addition to Secret Santa, everyone brings in something small to put in everyone else’s stocking. Alex’s gifts last year were mini holiday-themed Yankee Candles, which were a total hit. Everyone traded around for their favorite scents. Everyone except Tobin and Christen, anyway.

 

“You didn’t get anything either if I recall,” Alex says.

 

“Yeah but I’m used to you being petty when you’re mad,” Tobin retorts. “It really hurt her feelings. Before you decided you had it out for her, she wanted to be your friend.”

 

“I don’t buy that for a second,” Alex says. “But I’m also not interested in talking about her. We’re going to this game together, I’ll be polite. But you don’t get to come over here and chastise me for my behavior. Allie can do that, fine, whatever, she’s my best friend. But you are not my friend.”

 

“Yeah, I am,” Tobin sighs, standing up. “Even if you don’t want me to be, I am. You still matter to me. I still care about you. That doesn’t just go away because of a stupid fight, not for me anyway.”

 

Alex contains the rage she feels bubbling underneath her skin because she knows if she explodes now, tonight’s only going to be worse. “If there’s nothing else, I have work to do.”

 

“Nothing else,” Tobin says, lifting her hands in surrender. “I’ll see you tonight.”

 

~

 

Alex learns pretty quickly that being with Christen and Tobin means always looking vaguely in their general direction but never directly at them, if she wants to remain sane anyway. As expected, Tobin keeps Christen’s hands warm in her lap as they huddle together in the cold, and every time Alex makes the mistake of looking away, they sneak a kiss as if Alex won’t hear it or see it out of the corner of her eye.

 

“How's the story going?” Christen asks, leaning over Tobin to smile at Alex.

 

“It's good,” Alex says. “I'm learning all about soccer.”

 

“Oh, me too!” Christen laughs. “I've never met anyone who willingly wakes up at 6 a.m. on weekends, but Tobin lives for it. She used to try to watch on mute so she wouldn't wake me up, but I could feel her tensing up every five minutes and it was so much worse than just being woken up.”

 

“I bet,” Alex says, directing her attention back to the game.

 

“I can't believe you managed to resist getting sucked in for all those years as her roommate!”

 

Alex shrugs. “Never interested me.”

 

“You seem interested now,” Tobin says.

 

“I'm just reporting.”

 

“Where's your notepad?”

 

Alex gives Tobin a look. “Do you have a point?”

 

“No, it's just funny,” Tobin says. “It always drove me crazy how I would recommend a movie or TV show or restaurant to you and you were way too stubborn to ever listen, but once you stumbled upon it yourself you were obsessed.”

 

“Don't be mean,” Christen chastises. “I'm the same way, Alex. Tobin just wants credit for everything.” She rolls her eyes playfully like she and Alex are on the inside of the same joke.

 

“I know,” Alex says. Christen can't tell her anything she doesn't already know about the person who she considered a best friend for five years.

 

Luckily (but not really), the visiting team scores at that moment, giving all three women permission to turn their attention back to the action on the field.

 

“Fuck,” Alex swears, her eyes immediately darting to Kelley, who looks irritated but not angry. She's muttering to herself and pacing as she shouts instructions. 

 

Alex sits on her hands even though the bleachers are freezing because she knows if she doesn't she’ll bite her nails or her cuticles and give herself a hangnail. Kelley’s team can’t equalize for the life of them, and two minutes before the final whistle blows, the other team gets another goal to solidify their win.

 

“Kelley’s going to be pissed,” Tobin sighs.

 

Alex chews the inside of her lip and rubs her arms for warmth while they wait for Kelley to finish her post-game chat with the team.

 

“Hey,” Kelley says. She smiles when she sees them, but it's not her real smile, full of teeth and magic. “Thanks for coming, you guys. Sorry it was like that.”

 

“They were unlucky not to score,” Tobin says. “They played well. I can tell you're an awesome coach.”

 

“Thanks,” Kelley replies. “Hey, you must be Christen.”

 

“It's wonderful to finally meet you,” Christen says, holding out her hand and giving her famous anchor grin. “I've heard so much about you.”

 

“God, probably awful things if I recall our youth camps correctly,” Kelley laughs, shaking her hand before pulling her into a hug.

 

“No, all good things,” Christen assures her. “But I know enough about Tobin’s teenage self to imagine.”

 

“I was way worse,” Kelley says. “I hate to ask, but can I ride home with one of you? My car is in the shop, so my dad drove me, but he went home to get dinner ready.”

 

“You're more than welcome to come with us,” Tobin says. “But I think Alex drove alone, so she can have dibs unless she wants to be on her own.”

 

“It's cool,” Alex says, trying to play it off. “I'll drive you.”

 

“Do you know how to get there?” Kelley asks Tobin.

 

“Yeah, Chris has it in the GPS,” Tobin assures her. “See you there?”

 

“Yeah,” Kelley says. She walks to Alex's car and slides in, waiting for Tobin to pull out before she leans in to kiss Alex. “God, I wanted to do that for so long.”

 

“Stop,” Alex murmurs, blushing. “Are you okay?”

 

“I'm fine,” Kelley says. “Annoyed, but I'll survive. You? How was the date?”

 

“Annoying, but I'll survive,” Alex replies, sticking out her tongue between her teeth.

 

“Can we make out a little longer?”

 

“No way,” Alex says. “They'll beat us back and they'll suspect.”

 

“They'll assume you got lost.”

 

“With you in the car?”

 

Kelley groans. “You owe me.”

 

“We have to talk first,” Alex reminds her, putting the car into reverse and pulling out of the parking lot.

 

“I was hoping we could skip that part.”

 

“What, the hard part? Never.”

 

~

 

Erin is a delight, perhaps even more so than her mom or her sister. Alex enjoys interviewing Jerry, but he's almost polite to a fault. Erin is witty and snarky and refreshingly honest and doesn't seem to care all that much that Alex is going to put this stuff on television.

 

“I think I have a crush on your sister,” Alex whispers to Kelley when Kelley pulls out the chair for her at the dining room table.

 

“You better not,” Kelley retorts, sitting in her own chair beside Alex’s. Tobin sits to the other side of her, with Christen to Tobin’s right, and the rest of her family fills in the rest of the chairs, her dad taking great pleasure in serving them all while her mom pours everyone another glass of wine.

 

“Thank you so much, Mr. O’Hara,” Christen gushes, cutting up the veggie burger he prepared for her on the grill before any of the steaks. She's the only one drinking water because she and Tobin played Rock Paper Scissors to decide their designated driver for the night. It took like eight rounds because they kept choosing the same damn thing and giggling about it like they couldn't believe it (there are only three fucking options, it's not that crazy, Alex had thought to herself while forcing a smile).

 

“Of course, I love having kids over,” Dan says. “Well, you aren't kids of course, but my kids are all gone. Except Kelley, of course.”

 

“Sometimes I wish I still lived with my parents,” Christen says as if it's a horrible confession. “My two pups live with them. Tobin won't let me get a dog.”

 

“Our apartment won't let you get a dog over fifty pounds, and those are the only ones you like,” Tobin corrects gently.

 

Alex shovels asparagus into her mouth, more interested in the sound of her own chewing than the conversation going on around her.

 

Dan and Karen ask Tobin and Christen way more about their lives than Alex, which Alex attributes to the fact that they've seen her more recently, but it still kind of sucks hearing about Christen’s amazing job and how it's a “dream come true” for her to be on the anchor desk and how proud Tobin is of her girlfriend.

 

As soon as the opportunity presents itself for Alex to be excused in the form of dessert being ready, she jumps up to help clear the table, picking up all the plates until Karen chastises Kelley for not helping.

 

Kelley gets up to help, and Christen tries as well, but Kelley insists that she stay seated.

 

Once Alex has placed the dishes in the sink, Kelley sets her own down to the side and grabs Alex’s waist, spinning her around for a long kiss.

 

“You're a good sport,” Kelley murmurs, her arms snaking around Alex’s waist. “They're sickeningly cute.”

 

“I told you,” Alex grumbles against Kelley’s lips. “Unbearable.”

 

“I really want people to say that about us at some point,” Kelley says, running her fingers through Alex’s hair.

 

“Yeah,” Alex says. “Someday. Promise.”

 

“Finish the story,” Kelley teases. “You have my whole family on the record, so you're good, right?”

 

“Close,” Alex laughs. She wraps her arms around Kelley’s neck, pulling her back in for another slow kiss, which she lets herself enjoy completely, tongue and all.

 

“Makes sense,” comes a voice from the doorway, and Kelley leaps away from Alex as fast as she can. 

 

It's Erin, who smirks as she places her plate in the sink behind Alex. “Kelley is bad at hiding when she's hot for someone, and there's no way you didn't know.”

 

“Erin,” Kelley says, breathless. “Please—”

 

“Relax, I won't tell anyone,” Erin says. “Just wanted to see it for myself instead of asking you later and having you lie to me.”

 

“I wouldn't,” Kelley starts.

 

“You totally would,” Erin laughs. “I assume Alex's coworkers don't know, and Mom and Dad are oblivious. They didn't even figure out Kelley liked girls till she was on her third or fourth girlfriend. Jerry came in his pants the second he laid eyes on Alex, so he has no idea.”

 

“Erin!” Kelley exclaims as Alex’s face turns bright red.

 

“What?” Erin asks, playing dumb. “He totally thinks he has a chance. Don't worry, your secret’s safe with me. As long as I'm not the unlucky person who has to be in the next bedroom, I don't mind.”

 

“You can go now,” Kelley grits through her teeth.

 

“I should probably bring Alex with me,” Erin says. “And dessert, or else everyone is going to know. And I assume you're making out in the kitchen because you don't want that.”

 

“She's right,” Alex says, adding extra confirmation to what Kelley already knew.

 

“Whatever,” Kelley says, turning to face Erin. “She has a crush on you, by the way.”

 

“Kelley!” Alex exclaims, her face flushing.

 

Erin smirks. “If I played for your team, I’d steal you from Kel in a heartbeat, but I can take a compliment at least. Wait till Jerry hears he’s third in line.”

 

“More like fourth or fifth,” Alex says, taking the lemon meringue pie Erin hands her from the fridge. “Your mom’s pretty hot too.”

 

~

 

When Tobin fakes a yawn, Alex knows she's signaling Christen that it's time to go, but Christen is too wrapped up in conversation with Kelley’s parents to notice. Erin and Jerry are long gone, both satisfied with a slice of pie each before their Friday night family time quota was met.

 

“Tired, Tobs?” Alex asks. Tobin smiles at her gratefully, oblivious to the fact that Alex isn't doing it for her benefit.

 

“Oh gosh, it is getting late,” Christen says. “We should be heading back and getting out of your hair.”

 

“It wasn't a problem at all,” Karen says with a gracious smile, though Alex notices that she doesn't encourage them to stay longer.

 

“Alex, do you need a ride?” Christen asks. “I haven't had anything to drink, and I know I hate driving when I'm sleepy.”

 

“I'm good, thanks,” Alex replies, standing up. She can feel Kelley’s eyes on her, but she's just doing this for show, taking her time finding her purse and shoes without any intention of putting them on while Christen and Tobin finish their thank yous and head out to the car, waving goodbye.

 

“Thank you both so much for your hospitality, again,” Alex says.

 

“Of course,” Dan says. “It's a pleasure having you around.”

 

“If you are tired, dear, you are more than welcome to stay in Erin’s room,” Karen offers. “It's probably preferable to the whole leaving your car and having to come back thing.”

 

“Thanks,” Alex says. “I should be okay, but I appreciate it. Kelley and I have a few more things to go over to wrap up this round of interviews, so I’ll be good by the time that's over.”

 

“Don't work too hard,” Dan says, winking at them both. “We’re going to head to bed.”

 

“Night,” Kelley says, watching them till they disappear up the stairs. “Ah, silence.”

 

“Not for long,” Alex reminds her. “That whole talking thing still has to happen.”

 

“Oh right,” Kelley gasps dramatically as if she’d forgotten. “Silly me.”

 

Alex smirks, sitting back down in the love seat, her favorite spot in Kelley’s living room to conduct interviews. Kelley takes the hint and sits on the couch right next to it.

 

“I just want to start by saying I like you a lot,” Kelley says. “If I didn't, I wouldn't have done anything. I probably shouldn't have anyway, but if I liked you less, I would have been able to restrain myself better.”

 

“I kissed back,” Alex says, laughing softly. “It takes two to tango, right?”

 

“Right.”

 

“This story is important to me, but it's not going to last forever,” Alex says. “I can see myself wanting to kiss you for more than a few weeks.”

 

“Damn, that's poetic,” Kelley says. “Someone should pay you to write.”

 

Alex narrows her eyes. “My point is, when it's over, there's nothing to stop us from going out in public and dating and doing whatever.”

 

“Ooh, whatever,” Kelley says. “You sure know how to speak to a girl’s soul.”

 

“Shut up,” Alex whines. “What I'm worried about is what happens in the meantime. And even a little while after. I don't want my integrity compromised.”

 

“I don't think that'll be a problem for you,” Kelley says. “Have you even broken a rule ever in your life?”

 

“Plenty,” Alex laughs. “Including kissing you.”

 

Kelley pouts. “I thought I'd stop hearing that once I graduated high school.”

 

“Tobin can't know,” Alex says sharply. “Or Christen. God, and I want you to meet Allie, but I don't want to involve her either.”

 

“Okay,” Kelley agrees. “It's our secret.”

 

“And Erin’s.”

 

Kelley laughs. “And Erin’s.”

 

“And I think she's wrong about your parents being oblivious because your dad…” Alex trails off, remembering what Dan had said about not saying anything to Kelley.

 

“Oh God, what did he say?”

 

“That you talked about me a lot,” Alex mumbles. “He told me you'd be embarrassed if you found out he said it, which is when I had a feeling you might like me.”

 

“And you still came back for more?” Kelley asks, smirking.

 

“Maybe I had a feeling I liked you too,” Alex teases.

 

Kelley leans forward to take Alex’s chin in her hands and kiss her softly. "See? This wasn't so hard."

 

“Nobody can know,” Alex murmurs again. Kelley just nods. “I'm making an exception.”

 

“Oh, I'm the exception to your rule about sources who kiss you?”

 

“You'd be surprised.”

 

“I don't think I would be,” Kelley says. “You're pretty.”

 

“So are you,” Alex says, pecking her lips again. “And mysterious.”

 

“Do you think kissing me is going to get me to spill all my secrets?” Kelley asks, eyes gleaming with amusement.

 

Alex grins, crinkling her nose to feign innocence before dropping another kiss to Kelley’s lips. “Doesn't hurt to try.”


	7. rule #7: make friends whenever you can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex finds another angle for her story, and an unlikely source reaches out to her to build a bridge.

Every few months, Allie will get a wild hare to make a huge breakfast, usually after a particularly nice date night with Bati. Most mornings Alex resorts to her typical breakfast of Eggo waffles and fruit, but on those mornings, Alex wakes to the delectable smell of bacon in her nostrils.

 

Before Alex’s brain has a chance to wake up, she thinks it must be one of those mornings. She stretches out, a smile on her face, but then she realizes she's not in her bed and she's not wearing her pajamas and she's most certainly not sleeping alone.

 

Her brain wakes up quickly as soon as Alex feels the arms wrapped around her waist and feels the legs tangled with hers, and the prior night comes flooding back.

 

After kissing on the couch for what felt like hours (but was probably like fifteen minutes in reality), Kelley had suggested Alex take her mom up on the offer to sleep in Erin’s room. Alex had agreed almost instantly because she really didn't want to drive home, nor did she want to interrupt Allie’s date night, nor did she want to extract herself from Kelley’s embrace.

 

That's why, after Kelley had brought Alex clothes and a toothbrush and blankets and everything she’d need for a good night’s sleep, Alex had pathetically asked if Kelley would stay for a little while and rub her back till she fell asleep.

 

“I'm no good at falling asleep in strange beds,” Alex had whined. It's true, she’s slept with the same pillows since she was in high school because they're the best ones, and when she's in a relationship, she either insists they stay at her place or insists upon a back rub till she falls asleep.

 

Kelley had agreed, seizing the opportunity to kiss Alex a lot longer and apparently fall asleep there herself.

 

“Hey,” Kelley mutters, her eyes blinking open when Alex turns to face her.

 

“Big spoon?” Alex asks.

 

“I switch,” Kelley says. “Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep.”

 

“It's okay, we’re not in high school,” Alex laughs. “Sleepovers are allowed. I don't think I have any virtue left to ruin anyway.”

 

Kelley grins, nuzzling into her neck. “My dad likes to do big breakfasts,” she murmurs. “It's kind of his thing.”

 

Alex cringes. “I was hoping I could avoid the whole morning after awkwardness.”

 

“We didn't have sex,” Kelley says. “Mom offered you Erin’s bed anyway.”

 

“I know, but they might think…”

 

“I'll go down first,” Kelley says. “And I'll tell them you slept in here.”

 

“Mess up your bed,” Alex says. “So it looks slept in.”

 

“You're funny,” Kelley says, kissing Alex’s collarbone before sitting up.

 

“I'm being serious,” Alex whines. “I'm already going to have to explain this to Allie somehow, and no matter how nice your parents are, the fewer people who know the better.”

 

“Fine, fine,” Kelley says, pecking her softly on the lips. “Come down in like five minutes.”

 

Alex can tell when she comes down the stairs seven minutes later that there's no way Kelley’s parents believed her story, but they're nice enough to pretend anyway and serve her an enormous breakfast and invite her back “anytime.”

 

She leaves without a kiss goodbye, but Kelley escorts her outside and tells her to text when she gets home safely, which is as relationshippy as Alex can really ask for at this point.

 

Coming home to Allie is a much different story.

 

“Jesus Christ, Alexandra, I thought you'd been murdered!” Allie exclaims. 

 

“You could have texted me,” Alex says. “I ended up at Kelley’s later than I’d thought, so I just stayed in her sister’s room.”

 

Allie narrows her eyes at Alex like she isn't sure she should believe her. “How were Tobin and Christen?”

 

Alex rolls her eyes. “Irritating,” she says. “But my interviews went great, thanks for asking.”

 

“Have you figured out her deep dark secret yet?”

 

“I think I overthought it,” Alex says, shrugging. “She's really pretty normal.”

 

“So the swanky office and the mysterious retirement?”

 

“I'm interviewing the principal this week, maybe they got grants or something,” Alex says. “She insists she was just ready to be done with soccer.”

 

“And you're accepting that?”

 

“I've had like ten interviews with her at this point,” Alex sighs. “Unless she offers up something else, I'm letting it go.”

 

Allie frowns. “That's not very Alex Morgan of you.”

 

“I have more important things to focus on,” Alex says, hopping up onto the counter. “Jill said if I nail this, the next open anchor spot is mine.”

 

“What?” Allie gasps. “Alex, that's insane! Can she just promise that, though? What about the interview process?”

 

Alex shrugs. “I mean I've been through it before, and I've basically been next in line since before Christen.”

 

“I guess,” Allie says. “But you know she's made promises in the past and broken them. We don’t even know for sure the next time an anchor spot will open.”

 

“This feels different,” Alex insists.

 

“I just don't want you getting your hopes up,” Allie says. “But I really hope she means it, because you deserve it so much. You've worked too hard for too long not to get it.”

 

“Thanks, Al,” Alex says. “Maybe this time you can write me a recommendation.”

 

Allie smirks. “I'll see what I can do.”

 

~

 

It feels weird to be at the school and waiting in the office for someone other than Kelley, and Alex remembers the first time she was here and how miserable she was to be covering such a pointless story.

 

“Miss Morgan, Mr. Leonard will see you now,” the receptionist says, motioning toward his door.

 

When Alex walks in, she’s overcome with how markedly different his office is from Kelley’s. She had filed that away in her head as something that was maybe uniform across the school, but now it just seems weird. His office, while spacious, is a normal principal’s office, probably in need of an update or a facelift.

 

“Ms. Morgan, welcome to Starr’s Mill!” the man says, standing to greet her. He’s a slight, balding man who doesn’t look like he’d scare teenagers like Alex’s high school principal would, but she figures that’s what the receptionist is for anyway. “Although I know you’ve been here a few times. Can I offer you something to drink?”

 

“A water would be wonderful,” she says with a smile, sitting in one of the chairs he gestures to. “Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.”

 

“Of course,” he says, handing her a water bottle from a mini-fridge near his desk. “Ms. O’Hara is one of our most accomplished alumni, and we’re so pleased to have her back. I wasn’t principal when she was here, but it’s been a joy to welcome her back into the fold.”

 

“Do you mind if I record?” Alex asks, pulling out her tape recorder. “I’ll take notes too, but just so I can make sure I don’t miss anything.”

 

“Not a problem,” he says, sitting back in his chair.

 

They only have thirty minutes blocked off on his calendar, and Alex always makes sure she leaves ten in case the conversation veers off track, so she gets straight to business, confirming facts she already knows while getting some quotes for color. He’s an easy interview, answering all her questions directly but with personality, and never leaving her struggling for the next question. When she sees that she has ten minutes remaining, she switches gears.

 

“So one thing that kind of amazed me when I started this story was Kelley—Ms. O’Hara’s—office,” Alex says. “I guess the gym area in general. Tell me about how that came to be.”

 

It’s a hopeful question in that she’s assuming he’ll understand what she means, but as soon as she mentions the office, he looks amused and nods right along.

 

“That’s one of my favorite stories, actually,” he says. “About a year ago we received a $5 million donation completely out of the blue. The only instructions were that half of it should go to the girl’s soccer program, a quarter of it to need-based scholarships for graduating seniors, and the rest to our discretion.”

 

Alex furrows her brow. “Who donated it?”

 

He shrugs. “Not a clue. They asked to remain completely anonymous.”

 

“But $5 million isn’t a small amount of money.”

 

“It certainly is not,” he agrees. “But we had no way of tracking it down.”

 

“No leads? Nobody with a vested interest in the program with that kind of money?”

 

“Nope,” he says. “Till then the most interest we ever had in it was from people interested in Kelley’s career. It was perfect timing, though. We were able to renovate the gym building over the summer, and toward the end of it was when Kelley contacted us about wanting to help out. I imagine she caught wind of the donation through the athletic boosters.”

 

“She reached out to you for the job?”

 

“Not quite,” he says. “She said she was moving back to the area and would love to be involved. We happened to be in the final stages of our search for a new head coach, so we asked if she’d be willing—we couldn’t pay her what she made on the national team, of course, but she agreed. After that it was kind of a no-brainer.”

 

“As for the rest of the money, where is it going?” Alex asks.

 

“Some of the discretionary money went toward that renovation, but the rest of it is being put toward the library. The soccer money is supposed to be spent over five years, presumably so we can really commit to the development of the program. The athletic boosters are involved in the decision-making, and Kelley and her team have had some great ideas as well.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like a more experienced staff and trainers,” he says. “She’s kind of flying solo a lot of the time, especially for practice, as you know, so giving her people to work with is a huge priority for us. Buying equipment for players in need of financial help, hosting camps for rising freshmen before tryouts, all sorts of things. There’s a lot more we can do with that money, so it’ll be exciting to see what happens over the next few years. I’d encourage you and WSB-TV to stay tuned.”

 

Alex smiles, turning off her tape recorder to signal the end of the interview. “I can assure you we will.”

 

~

 

As soon as her interview ends, she goes to Kelley’s office, supposedly to discuss, but more to make out.

 

“We shouldn't, not here,” Alex finally manages after five minutes of hot and heavy tongue action on the couch.

 

Kelley pouts but pulls back, knowing Alex is probably right.

 

“You don't think there are cameras in this fancy office?” Alex teases.

 

“Oh there definitely are, but they don't check them unless there's a reason,” Kelley says matter-of-factly. “Like your work computer, probably. Most of the offices used by coaches double as our changing rooms, so they usually don't.”

 

“If I had the chance to see you half-naked I could easily come up with five convincing reasons to pull the tape,” Alex says.

 

“If you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask,” Kelley replies, pressing another kiss to Alex’s cheek.

 

Alex giggles, but the vibrating of her phone pulls her out of the moment. She frowns when she sees Ali, one of the station producers, is calling. “Hang on, I need to take this. Hello?”

 

“Alex, hey, sorry to bother you, I know you're on assignment,” Ali says breathlessly. “Any chance of you getting back to the studio by 4? Cheney’s sick.”

 

Lauren Holiday, who had been Lauren Cheney for the first five years of her broadcasting career, is Christen’s co-anchor on the nightly news, and the most reliable person Alex has ever met. If she's sick, it must be serious.

 

“Um, yeah, absolutely,” Alex says, standing up abruptly. “I'll leave now so I don't hit traffic.”

 

“Perfect, you're a lifesaver,” Ali gushes, and Alex can hear the immediate relief in her voice. “See you then.”

 

“What's wrong?” Kelley asks after Alex hangs up.

 

“Nothing at all,” Alex says, grinning. “I'm going to sub in as anchor tonight. Watch me?”

 

~

 

The hardest part of going on-air is sitting through hair and makeup. Alex has never been great at sitting still, so her leg bounces the whole time, less with nerves than with anticipation.

 

“Alex!” Christen exclaims when she walks into the room, already made up and perfect. “I'm so glad you were able to come in. I was afraid I’d get stuck with all guys.”

 

Alex forces a smile. “Yeah, I figure if Cheney isn't feeling well, it must be all hands on deck.”

 

“Always,” Christen laughs, sitting in the chair next to her for a touch-up or to get recharged, whatever it is they do to flawless robots. “The other night was a lot of fun, I'm so glad we got to do that. Isn't Kelley great?”

 

“She is,” Alex agrees, talking without moving her lips as the makeup artist, Emily, finishes her lipstick.

 

“I can’t wait to read the story,” Christen says. “Her family must have made for some fun interviews, and she’s just fascinating. I’m sure it’s going to be amazing.”

 

“Hopefully,” Alex replies.

 

“I really want you and Allie to come over to our place sometime soon,” Christen says, turning her chair to face Alex, presumably because her best chance to talk to her is while Alex is trapped. “I promise I can blow your mind with some vegan recipes.”

 

Alex just smiles, squeezing her eyes shut when Emily finishes her off with setting spray.

 

“Places in fifteen,” Ali says. Her hair is in a tight bun, and she's carrying a clipboard, looking every bit the professional control freak one has to be in order to produce their show. When she's like this, Alex understands Ashlyn’s massive years-long crush that she has yet to act on for some reason. “Alex, I owe you so big.”

 

“Of course,” Alex says with a smirk, figuring she could cash in on that promise for Ashlyn’s benefit at some point. She hops out of her chair to head to set, but Christen stops her with a gentle hand on her wrist.

 

“Alex,” she says. “Can I talk to you really quickly?”

 

“Um, sure?”

 

“I know you don't like me,” Christen says. “And that's okay, really. Not everyone will like me, just like I won't like everyone. But I feel horrible that I could keep you and Tobin from being close like you used to.”

 

“It's really not your fault,” Alex says.

 

“No, it is,” Christen insists. “Tobin tried telling me the same thing, but she finally explained the other night after we left the O’Haras’, and if it hadn't been for me asking her to write that recommendation for me, you two wouldn't have had that fight.”

 

“You asked her to write it?” Alex asks, narrowing her eyes. Her own narrative of the story never included that.

 

“I was new,” Christen says. “She was my only friend here really. You had like a million people to write recommendations for you, so I didn't think I stood a chance anyway. I had no idea till the other night that she didn't do one for you.”

 

Alex nods slowly. “I appreciate it,” she says. “You, I mean. For saying something. I really don't dislike you.”

 

Christen smiles. “It's okay if you do,” she says. “I know Tobin loves you, and you two were close. It's like when my sisters start dating new people, I hate them by default. I just know Tobin loves you. She’d kill me if she knew I said anything to you, but I want you to know that she misses you. And selfishly, I've always wanted to be your friend.”

 

Alex blushes. “That's nice of you,” she says. “I don't hate you for dating Tobin. And I don't hate Tobin for dating you. It's just… hard.”

 

Christen nods earnestly. “I get it!” she says. “I really do. And you're good at your job, and you'll be an amazing anchor. You were made for this.”

 

“Thanks, Christen,” Alex says. Surprisingly enough, she finds herself actually meaning it, not just finding it a convenient end to the conversation. It's not Christen’s fault she was chosen over Alex. It's not even really Tobin’s fault. Alex did have plenty of other recommendations, and Christen probably didn't. It doesn't make Tobin’s slight hurt any less, but given hindsight and Jill’s promise of another position opening up soon, Alex feels more gracious than usual.

 

“Break a leg,” Christen says, grinning over her shoulder as she walks to the set.

 

“Yeah,” Alex says, returning the smile. “You too.”


	8. rule #8: good things come to those who wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex finishes her story, and there's only one way to celebrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reader discretion advised

Alex doesn't think she’ll ever beat the feeling she gets after wrapping up a live show. The first time she did it she knew she wouldn't be happy with anything less than an anchor role. At risk of being corny, the lights, the camera, and the action fill her with unmatched adrenaline, and it's the one time she feels like she knows what she was made to do. She thinks it must be what Kelley feels like stepping onto a soccer field.

 

“Great show, everyone!” Ali says from the booth, giving Alex a thumbs up.

 

“You were awesome, Alex,” Christen says, grinning. “That was fun!”

 

“Thanks,” Alex says, almost breathless. It's far from her first time filling in, but it still feels brand new.

 

“Great job, Alex,” another voice says. Alex spins around to see Greg, the sports anchor, and his megawatt smile. He looks like the stereotypical sports guy, all muscle and bronzed skin (which Alex knows for a fact is spray tan). He's the picture all the cartoons probably model their jock characters after. “You're a natural.”

 

“Thanks!” Alex says again, her cheeks turning pink.

 

“I can't wait to have you on the desk all the time,” he says, looking around to make sure nobody can hear. 

 

“You think?” Alex asks.

 

“No doubt,” he says. “Only a matter of time, right?”

 

“Here's hoping.”

 

“Well you're gorgeous and talented, so I don't see why not.”

 

Alex folds her arms across her chest shyly. “Well thanks.”

 

“You know, I'm getting out of here once I get all this makeup off,” he says. “Can I buy you a drink?”

 

“Oh,” Alex says. “I, uh, I was going to stick around here and work on some stuff, actually. But I appreciate the offer.”

 

“Rain check, then,” he says with a wink.

 

“Maybe we could get a whole group to go together,” Alex replies, not missing the way his face falls. It's not a secret to anyone that Greg has the hots for Alex, but he's been banging interns for so long that she never expected him to actually ask her out.

 

“Uh, yeah,” he says. “Maybe.”

 

Greg sulks away, and Alex turns and meets Christen’s eyes. Christen mouths “yikes” and gives her a sympathetic smile, probably because she was on the receiving end of an unwanted advance or two before everyone knew about her and Tobin.

 

When Alex gets back to her phone in the green room, she has a few texts from Kelley saying how pumped she is to watch and then telling Alex how great she was. A grin spreads across her face, and she picks up the phone to call back.

 

“Hey superstar,” Kelley answers almost immediately. “How sick was that?”

 

“Pretty sick,” Alex laughs.

 

“We watched in my office after practice,” Kelley says. “The girls might have been teasing me about my totally transparent crush on you.”

 

“Kelley!” Alex exclaims. 

 

“What? I was probably drooling, honestly. You looked beautiful, and you were smiling so big I couldn't even tell you wanted to rip Christen from limb to limb.”

 

“I actually didn't this time,” Alex says. “I'll explain later.”

 

“How about sooner?” Kelley suggests. “I'm driving home. Any chance you'd be down for another sleepover?”

 

“Patience,” Alex says. “I'm going to stick around here a little while longer. I'm still so jazzed from the show I kind of want to channel my energy into something productive.”

 

“Making out with me is productive,” Kelley whines.

 

“So is finishing up this story so I can make out with you way more often and in the light of day,” Alex reminds her. “Speaking of, can we go on the record for a sec?”

 

Kelley groans. “If we must.”

 

“We didn't get a chance to talk when I saw you before—”

 

“Because we were making out.”

 

“On the record,” Alex reminds her. “But I met with Mr. Leonard.”

 

“Oh Lenny, my pal,” Kelley says.

 

“Right,” Alex laughs. “He told me about the donation the school received a few months before you started coaching.”

 

Kelley is quiet. “Okay.”

 

“Well, I just wanted to know what you know about it.”

 

“Probably the same as you,” she says. “A lot was dedicated to the soccer program. It’s cool.”

 

“You don't have any idea who it was?”

 

“On the record, no.”

 

“Kelley,” Alex sighs.

 

“It's a lot of money going to a good cause,” Kelley says. “What's that they say about not looking a gift horse in the mouth?”

 

“That's pretty much the full quote,” Alex says. “You don't have any further comment?”

 

“I’m excited to see what the money can bring to the program, but I'm even more excited to see what we can do with the talent and heart we have on the team,” Kelley says. “That's all I've got, does that work?”

 

“I guess,” Alex sighs.

 

“Don't be mad at me.”

 

“I'm not,” Alex says, doing a bad job of convincing even herself. “Listen, I need to transcribe some stuff and get to writing. Thanks for your help. Talk later.”

 

No sooner does she hang up and open her work laptop than does Ashlyn come by her desk, looking frantic.

 

“Help!” she hisses. “I need help.”

 

“What?” Alex asks, eyes wide.

 

“I promise I will do anything you want for a month if you do this for me.”

 

“Jesus, what? What's wrong?”

 

“I asked Ali to drinks under the pretense that you and I already had plans to go. She said yes, so now I need you to actually come.”

 

“Ash, I have a ton of work to do,” Alex groans. “This is your chance to make your move anyway.”

 

“Right, but if she thinks you aren't going she’ll bail too,” Ashlyn whines. “I need you to come for like one drink and then say you're tired and leave.”

 

“I swear to God if you don't at least get to second base with her tonight,” Alex grumbles, throwing her things into her bag. The story will have to wait because she could use some good friend karma points.

 

~

 

Alex's very last interview is over the phone the next day with one of Kelley’s teammates, the captain in fact. It's the perfect final interview because Becky sums up exactly what everyone else has said about Kelley: she is a friend to all, a consummate professional, and a potential future captain of the National Team. Getting that all in Becky’s words was exactly what Alex had needed, though she still feels like there's a gaping hole between Kelley’s retirement and the start of her coaching career that nobody else seems to notice.

 

Cheney reads it first, then Ashlyn (who texts Alex first thing that morning that she and Ali have a real date scheduled for the weekend and also how do you get lipstick off of your sheets?), then Allie, and they all return it with their own edits. (Cheney’s notes are written in purple and say things like “great color!” and “my heart!” while Allie’s are more like “this doesn't make sense” and “comma goes inside quotations, moron.”)

 

None of them seem to think anything is missing, probably because Alex tried to place the most focus on Kelley as a person and her current role as a coach. Until it's submitted and cut down and torn to shreds and finally published, she won't feel just right about it.

 

The last step is something Alex wanted to avoid at all costs, but she knew it would have to happen eventually. She's at a loss for who can review it for sports accuracy, but in her heart of hearts she knows there's only one place to turn.

 

“Tobs?” Alex asks, peeking her head into the sports cave. “Do you have a minute?”

 

“Sure,” Tobin says. “I was about to pack up and head home.”

 

“Oh, then I won't stop you!” Alex says, looking at the clock. It's almost 9, but she still hasn't had dinner, too preoccupied with her story to notice the hours flying by. “It can wait.”

 

“You wouldn't be asking for my help if it could wait,” Tobin says.

 

Alex face turns pink, and she feels another pair of eyes on her. “Oh, hi,” she says to Greg, who's sitting at another desk in the office. “I don't mean to bother you if you're working.”

 

“No worries,” he says, holding up his ear buds. He gives her a tight smile. “When you work in such close proximity to others, you always come prepared to tune them out.”

 

Alex pulls up an empty chair to Tobin’s desk and opens her laptop. “I was hoping you would look over this with me and help me with some of the sports stuff. And whatever else you notice.”

 

“No problem,” Tobin says, logging back into her own computer. Alex quickly adds her as a collaborator on the document so they can edit together. “You were really good last night,” she says. “Chris said you came in clutch.”

 

“Good timing,” Alex says, shrugging. “Ali needed someone, so. It's kind of my job.”

 

“Yeah, but that's who you are,” Tobin says. “You're a good person.”

 

“How’s Lauren feeling?” Alex asks, desperate to change the subject. Lauren is one of Tobin’s best friends, and one of the biggest things Alex misses about having Tobin as a roommate is Lauren’s motherly advice.

 

“Uh, she's alright,” Tobin says, seemingly distracted by a change she's making to Alex’s story. She looks up and turns toward where Greg is sitting. He still has his headphones in, but she lowers her voice. “Can you keep a secret?”

 

If only she knew, Alex thinks. “Yeah, of course.”

 

“She's pregnant.”

 

“What?” Alex exclaims before clapping a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God!” Lauren had been candid about her desire to be a mom and her struggles to conceive, but Alex hadn't been updated since Tobin moved out.

 

“She's not far enough along to start telling people, but the bosses know. She and Jrue want her to be a stay-at-home mom, at least for a few years, so they're probably going to be looking for her replacement soon.”

 

“Oh my God,” Alex says. “This explains so much.”

 

“What do you mean?” Alex bites her lip, not sure if she should elaborate, but Tobin knows that's her tell. “Dude, spill.”

 

“Jill may have mentioned an anchor spot opening up soon,” Alex says. “She said if this story goes well, it could be mine.”

 

“Well we better make it even more amazing then,” Tobin says with a smile. “That's amazing, Al. Well deserved.”

 

“You don't think someone else would be better suited for it?” Alex bites, unable to resist the comment.

 

Tobin sighs and turns toward Alex completely. “I never wanted this to happen,” she says. “I know how much you wanted the job, but when Christen asked me, I couldn't say no.”

 

“Okay, but why didn't you write one for me?” Alex asks. “And why didn't you just say sorry? You can't imagine how shitty it felt knowing my best friend was picking some girl she had a crush on over me. Twice.”

 

“I felt awful,” Tobin says. “I still feel awful. At the time I hadn't even considered writing you one because I figured it would seem… biased, I don't know. Everyone knew we lived together, and I didn't want to cheapen your recommendations with one that everyone would think I just wrote because we’re friends. You're better than a pity rec. You’re brilliant and so good at your job, and me saying that means so little compared to all the other people who could.”

 

Alex chews her lip instead of responding, not trusting herself to say anything without getting emotional. She just nods.

 

“And when you confronted me, I just… I don't know, Alex. It felt like an attack because you were upset I was dating Christen. So I didn't want to hear the other reasons you were upset. And I regret that. And I'm really sorry. For everything. For the recommendation, for not telling you about Christen at first, for moving out like that.”

 

Alex takes a deep breath and looks up, making eye contact with Tobin. “It still hurts,” she confesses. “And I think it will for a long time.”

 

“I know,” Tobin replies.

 

“But not forever,” Alex says. “It's just a job. She's just a girl. And one day I want to be how we used to be.”

 

“Do you think we ever will?”

 

“I don't know,” Alex admits. “Maybe not. But I miss you. I miss knowing what's going on in your life.”

 

“Maybe we could hang out then sometime.”

 

“Yeah,” Alex agrees.

 

“Maybe we can go get dinner soon, you and me… and Kelley.”

 

Alex's eyes dart up at the mention of Kelley’s name, and Tobin smiles.

 

“I don't know, and I don't want to know,” she says. “Not while I'm editing this story and not while you're up for this promotion. But if you're getting… close, I'm happy for you. She's an amazing person and you could both do a lot worse than each other. You both deserve the world.”

 

“Thanks, Tobs,” Alex says. “I’m happy for you too.” Tobin raises an eyebrow. “I'm serious!” Alex laughs. “Christen is nice. I can't fucking stand her for it, but she is. You deserve nice.”

 

“And you deserve the world,” Tobin says. She smiles before turning her attention back to the computer screen. “Now let's get you that job.”

 

~

 

Once Tobin finishes her edits, Alex reads it over, sleeps on it, reads it again on Thursday morning, and finally sends it to Jill. As soon as she hits send, she goes on a five-mile run to get rid of all the pent-up energy.

 

“Submitted the story!” she texts Kelley when she gets out of the shower.

 

“When do I get to see/read it?” comes the quick reply.

 

“When it's published,” Alex says. “I'll let you know what I hear from my boss.”

 

“Let's celebrate,” Kelley replies. “My parents are out of town tomorrow night. I'll make you dinner.”

 

“I'll bring wine,” Alex says, adding an excited emoji. “I can probably get there around 7. Should I pack a bag?”

 

“You looked so cute in my clothes last time,” Kelley replies. “‘Maybe a toothbrush though. My waffle maker will put your Eggos to shame.”

 

Alex can't help the way her heart skips a beat when she reads that. She hasn't had sex with anyone she really likes in ages. She's hooked up with Tinder dates and gone home with people she's met at bars, but nobody she really expected a second time with. Certainly nobody who offered to make her dinner and breakfast the morning after.

 

“It's a date,” Alex replies.

 

~

 

“Holy shit, you look hot,” Allie says when she walks into Alex’s room. “I was going to see if you wanted to go out, but it looks like you've got plans.”

 

“A date, actually,” Alex says, smoothing her dress, a spin on the classic “little black dress” with cutouts over her ribs.

 

“Anyone I know?”

 

“Um, no,” Alex says. It's technically true, Allie hasn't met Kelley yet. “If it goes well, I'll introduce you to her soon.”

 

“Her?” Allie asks, raising an eyebrow. “Good, it’s about time you got an orgasm from someone else for once.”

 

“Shut up!” Alex exclaims, but her face turns red. “I'm pretty excited too.”

 

“Just text me so I know you're still alive and stuff,” Allie says. “I guess tonight will be a bottle of wine on the couch for me.”

 

“Join the club,” Alex replies, swiping gloss across her lips. “How do I look?”

 

“Like you're about to get lucky.”

 

~

 

“God, I'm a lucky woman,” Kelley says as soon as she opens the front door to reveal Alex, her arms across her chest for warmth. Kelley is wearing a “Kiss the Cook” apron over her own denim shift dress.

 

“Stop it,” Alex says, pressing a kiss to Kelley’s lips. “You look amazing. And the house smells even better.”

 

“I’m making lasagna, but I only have my grandma’s recipe which is for eight people. Which I only realized once I was halfway through cooking it, so I hope you're hungry.”

 

“I'm pretty hungry, but I also have a roommate who will love you right off the bat if I come home with leftovers.” 

 

“Perfect,” Kelley says, closing the door behind Alex.

 

“I brought red and white because I wasn't sure,” Alex says, pulling two bottles from her bag.

 

“Luckily I like both as long as they make me all warm and fuzzy around the edges.”

 

“We’ll start with white and work up to the red, then,” Alex suggests, handing the sauvignon blanc to Kelley to uncork and pour into two glasses. “I can't believe you lit candles.”

 

“I don't do romance halfway,” Kelley laughs, kissing her again before handing her a glass. “We have plenty to celebrate, but how about… to no more secrets.”

 

“No more?” Alex asks, quirking an eyebrow.

 

“Absolutely none,” Kelley promises.

 

“I'll drink to that,” Alex agrees, clinking her glass with Kelley’s. “Cheers.”

 

~

 

Kelley wasn't kidding about not doing romance halfway. The dining room table is covered with a tablecloth and candles, and not only did she make lasagna, she made a full three-course meal with salad and chocolate mousse. Alex is stuffed (but hasn't taken late-night seconds off the table quite yet) and tipsy by the time Kelley uncorks the Cabernet and pours their glasses, taking them into the living room, where Alex curls into her side, resting her head on Kelley’s shoulder.

 

“As nice as this is, I kind of feel like I'm in high school again,” Alex giggles. “Playing house while we’re still in your parents’ house.”

 

“See if I try to be romantic again,” Kelley groans. “I know, I know. I plan on it. But I can't imagine moving right now with everything going on with the team. This summer, though. Hold me to it.”

 

“Didn't you move here right after you retired?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“So didn't you have plenty of time to find a place then?”

 

“Reporter Alex coming out again?” Kelley teases.

 

“I'm not trying to!” Alex insists. “But you did say no more secrets.”

 

“That I did,” Kelley says. “How ready are you really for this story?”

 

Alex sits up and looks Kelley in the eye. “As ready as you are to tell me.”

 

“I am,” Kelley says, squeezing Alex’s hand. “I have been for a while, but I didn’t want to complicate your life with the story and all that. Even Tobin doesn’t know everything.”

 

“The story’s over,” Alex assures her. “It’s just me now.”

 

“When I retired, it wasn’t exactly my decision,” Kelley says. “I had an ankle reconstruction a few years ago, and I picked up a knock on the same ankle toward the end of the season, right after the Olympics. It wasn’t a huge deal, I mean I was able to play through the rest of the year with both of my teams, but I needed to have surgery on it. A clean-up, they call it, it’s so routine.”

 

Alex nods. She’s familiar with the injury and the first surgery given her research on Kelley’s career, but not with a second surgery.

 

“I only had a brief window of time to get it done, and my orthopedic surgeon was on vacation during that time, so she gave me some other recommendations in Atlanta so I could have the surgery and recover at home. A few weeks after the surgery I wasn’t healing as fast as I should have been, so at my check-up I asked about it and he said not to worry, sometimes it just takes longer. Which is ridiculous, I should have called him out right then. I’m an athlete, I’ve been through plenty of surgeries, this is old hat for me.”

 

“Of course,” Alex says softly, resting a hand on Kelley’s knee.

 

“After a few more weeks I still wasn’t healing and I was in so much pain, so I saw my normal surgeon who did X-rays and ran tests and basically told me the other doctor botched my surgery and caused more damage than he fixed. She went back in and tried to fix it, but when I woke up she—” Kelley is getting choked up, so Alex rubs her back. “She said she did everything she could, but there was no way I’d play again. She wasn’t even sure I’d get full functionality back.”

 

“Oh my God, Kelley,” Alex breathes.

 

“I was in the hospital for two weeks while they tried to treat my pain and rehab me. I was on so many drugs that it’s all fuzzy still, but I remember this one nurse—in the interest of no more secrets, I remember her because she was really hot—who was constantly in my room, like every time I opened my eyes she was there. So I made a joke about how she must have a crush on me but if she wanted my number she just had to ask, she didn’t have to be there all the time.”

 

“Total ladykiller even on the darkest days,” Alex teases, kissing Kelley’s cheek.

 

“She said she did have to be there all the time because I was on suicide watch,” Kelley says, laughing wryly. “I’d been screaming and crying and telling everyone I just wanted to die if I couldn’t play anymore. Dramatic, I know.”

 

“That’s not dramatic,” Alex says, running her fingers through Kelley’s hair. “I can’t imagine hearing news like that.”

 

“Me neither, apparently,” Kelley replies. “The first day I was home, my parents brought a lawyer over to talk about our options for suing the doctor for malpractice. I just… didn’t want to deal with it. I didn’t want to go through a trial, I didn’t want to talk about the surgery, I didn’t want to answer questions in interviews forever and ever about the most traumatic event of my entire life. I just wanted it all to be over. The pain, the fear, any contact with that doctor, all of it.”

 

Alex nods slowly. “So… what did you do?”

 

“We threatened to sue him,” Kelley says. “My lawyer said we didn’t have to go through with it, but we wanted to see what he’d do. There are limits to what I could sue him for in medical bills and that kind of damage, but no limits on what I could get from lost income, sponsorships, all that stuff. So instead of taking it to court and making it public record and having to disclose it, his insurance offered to just pay us off basically.”

 

“For… what exactly?”

 

“Ten million,” Kelley says, looking at her lap. “And you’d think that might have felt good, but I felt like shit. It felt like hush money. We signed NDAs and everything. I was glad it was all over and I didn’t have to go through a trial, but then I realized how selfish I was being. Like, I let this guy get away with this. He can do this to other patients now, patients with less ability to do anything about it or get press coverage like I could have. Just the fact that you covered my story tells me I’m right about that.”

 

“Maybe,” Alex says. “But it was what you felt was right at the time. And it was right for you.”

 

“If he hurts anyone else, I’m going to feel personally responsible,” Kelley says, her eyes filling with tears. “One of my girls needed surgery after breaking her collarbone, and he was the first doctor recommended. Thank God they asked me if I had any referrals, or else… I don’t know. I know he must be a decent doctor, he has a good reputation, but he was so ready and willing to just pay me off that I feel like it couldn’t have been the first time.”

 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Alex whispers, kissing Kelley’s forehead. “I’m so, so sorry you went through that.”

 

Kelley smiles tightly, turning to kiss Alex on the lips. “So, here we are.”

 

“Here we are,” Alex says, her hand rubbing Kelley’s thigh. “So that $5 million donation to Starr’s Mill…”

 

“Yeah,” Kelley says. “That was my attempt to make things right. That and becoming the coach. It wasn’t my plan, but once I got out of my denial about my career being over, I was just super depressed and wasn’t doing anything, so my parents wanted me to find something to do to get out of the house and, I don’t know, get a life. I don’t know if they were expecting it to work out quite this well.”

 

“You mean the head coaching position?”

 

“That and getting a hot new girlfriend…”

 

Alex laughs. “Girlfriend, huh?”

 

“Yeah, you wouldn’t know her,” Kelley says. “But you will. She’s going to be famous.”

 

“Is she?” Alex asks. “I’m intrigued.”

 

“Mhm,” Kelley murmurs, pulling the other woman onto her lap so Alex is straddling her legs, her dress riding up around her thighs. Kelley presses a kiss to her collarbone before leaning back to look up at her. “She’s an amazingly talented journalist who’s going to be on TV every single night starting soon because she has the nicest face and the best voice and the smartest brain of anyone I’ve ever met.”

 

“She sounds great, maybe I should date her instead,” Alex teases.

 

“You have a girlfriend,” Kelley says with a frown.

 

Alex leans down to kiss the pout off her face. “Can we continue this conversation upstairs?”

 

Kelley doesn’t waste another moment, standing up with Alex’s legs wrapped around her waist and walking toward the stairs, to hell with the wine glasses on the coffee table. She falters for a moment and has to put Alex down. “Sorry,” she says. “It would be romantic if I could carry you up the stairs, but…” She looks down at her ankle, and Alex kisses her again.

 

“I’m more concerned with what we do once we’re in your room, not how we get there,” she murmurs.

 

Once in Kelley’s room, Alex takes a moment to look around and take it in. Kelley had brought her bag upstairs, so Alex never got the chance to see it. Her duvet is yellow with navy blue spiral designs, and her desk doubles as a vanity, covered in photo booth pictures with friends, family vacation photos, and souvenirs from trips. Aside from Stanford memorabilia, she has to imagine this is how it looked when Kelley lived here in high school.

 

“So you said girlfriend,” Alex says. “Is that what we are?”

 

“I won’t hold you to anything till tonight is over and you decide I’m good enough in bed to keep around.”

 

“So valiant.” Alex wraps her arms around Kelley’s waist.

 

“More like confident,” Kelley corrects. “I’ve had nothing but good reviews.”

 

Alex crinkles her nose. “Okay, let’s table that discussion.”

 

Kelley runs her hands up and down Alex’s sides, looking her in the eyes. “Can I?” she asks, fiddling with the zipper on the side. Alex nods, and Kelley eases it down, revealing more of the smooth skin of Alex’s torso.

 

Alex shrugs it off to help Kelley undress her, revealing the simple black lace lingerie set she picked up at the mall the day before, right after talking to Kelley about their big sleepover. She smirks when she sees Kelley’s jaw practically hit the ground right along with Alex’s dress.

 

“Even better than I imagined,” Kelley mutters. “And trust me, I’ve imagined this a hell of a lot.”

 

“What did you imagine?” Alex asks, standing confidently and resisting the urge to cover her chest with her arms.

 

Kelley responds by turning Alex so her back is to the bed, laying her down right away. She stops to pull her own dress over her head. She’s wearing a simple blue bra and a yellow thong, and Alex can’t help but smile at the tiny bow in the center of Kelley’s breasts as Kelley leans over her to pepper kisses across her chest and stomach.

 

Alex runs her fingertips over Kelley’s shoulders while she kisses and touches everywhere she can reach on Alex that isn’t covered in lace. Her lips and teeth nip at the skin covering Alex’s ribcage, making the taller girl hum with pleasure beneath her. Her fingertips dip beneath the lace of Alex’s bra, touching the underside of her breasts and making Alex’s nipples harden.

 

Alex sits up on her elbows to reach behind herself and unclasp her own bra, letting the straps fall down her shoulders. Kelley takes the cue and pulls it off, her hands covering Alex’s breasts as she kisses her neck again. They fit perfectly in Kelley’s palms, and she rolls Alex’s nipples between her fingers, enjoying the small gasps she elicits. Alex reaches around Kelley to unclasp her bra as well, letting it fall down her arms. Kelley pulls away from Alex to toss the bra across the room, where it lands on her desk chair.

 

“I swear if you don’t touch me right now, I’ll go find someone who will,” Alex growls after the third or fourth time Kelley’s hands go just slightly beneath the waistband of her underwear.

 

“You wouldn’t have to go far, I’m sure,” Kelley replies, biting at Alex’s earlobe. Her hand slides beneath Alex’s waistband, dipping all the way inside her. The pressure from Kelley’s palm against her clit is enough to make Alex moan, it’s been so long since someone has touched her there. “Fuck, do that again.”

 

“Keep doing that and you’ll keep hearing it,” Alex groans, her heart rate quickening.

 

Kelley pulls her hand out and licks the finger she dipped into Alex before pulling down her underwear and running her fingers down Alex’s thighs. “Gorgeous.”

 

Alex turns pink while Kelley looks her up and down, memorizing her naked form. “Can you just—”

 

“I’m appreciating,” Kelley says.

 

“Trust me, you’ll get to appreciate this for a while,” Alex says. “Right now I just need to—”

 

She doesn’t get the chance to finish her sentence because she lets out a moan when Kelley enters her with two fingers suddenly. “What was that?”

 

“Nothing,” Alex gasps. “Keep… keep going.”

 

Kelley gets on the same page as Alex quickly. There will be plenty of time for savoring and kissing and touching and exploring later, but today is about all the feelings they’ve been waiting to act on since they met and finally—finally—acting on them.

 

It doesn’t take long for Alex to shake and tighten around Kelley’s fingers, her eyes squeezed shut. She makes a note to herself to use this as another reason Kelley needs to get her own place, because there’s no way she could be this loud with Kelley’s family home.

 

Kelley rubs her slowly as she comes down, kissing her softly. “Girlfriends?” she whispers in her ear teasingly.

 

Alex nods quickly without opening her eyes. “Definitely girlfriends,” she breathes.

 

When Alex recovers, she returns the favor with a point to prove, leaving Kelley a boneless, shaking mess with Alex’s head between her legs, licking and sucking and curling her fingers inside till Kelley is too sensitive to continue and has to push her away.

 

“I love no more secrets,” Kelley breathes, trying to collect herself as Alex curls around her, volunteering to be the big spoon without words.

 

“Me too,” Alex whispers, pressing a kiss to the space behind Kelley’s ears.

 

As she drifts off to the sound of Kelley’s breathing and the feeling of their hearts beating in sync, Alex doesn’t think she’ll ever beat this feeling.


	9. rule #9: watch your back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Kelley learn a hard lesson.

Alex feels like she's walking on air the rest of the weekend. She has to leave Kelley’s house before noon on Saturday because her parents are due back, but as soon as she leaves their safe haven, she just wants to be back in Kelley’s arms, kissing her and taking in her naturally sweet scent. She knew she was in too deep before, but that was nothing compared to how she feels now.

 

Kelley texts her every so often just so Alex knows she’s thinking about her, little things like “you're cute” and “I hope you're having a good day” with plenty of kissy face emojis.

 

On Sunday night, Kelley texts her that she hopes she has a good week at work and tells Alex to let her know what happens with the story and promotion.

 

“You bet,” Alex replies. “Thanks for an amazing night Friday. It was the best date I've had in a long while.”

 

“Me too,” Kelley says. “Not just the end, even though that was pretty great. It felt good to talk to you about everything now that the story’s over.”

 

“It felt good to hear it,” Alex says. “#nomoresecrets ;)”

 

“Haha no more,” Kelley types back. “Except from the rest of the world. NDAs are a bitch.”

 

“Haha tell me about it,” Alex replies. “A journalist’s nightmare. Were you serious when you said your ankle hurt btw? When you were carrying me.”

 

“It usually does,” Kelley says. “I take arthritis medicine for everyday stuff.”

 

“Ouch,” Alex replies. “How do you run those drills at training?”

 

“Lots and lots of painkillers,” Kelley replies. “Advil, nothing crazy. But I'd rather play in pain than not play at all, even if it's just with them.”

 

“Do you think it'll ever get too bad to continue?”

 

“I don't know. My doctor wants me to wear a walking boot most of the time, but I'm stubborn. You may end up pushing me around in a wheelchair when I'm old.”

 

“We’ll just have to get a one-story house,” Alex replies.

 

“We can build an elevator,” Kelley offers.

 

“Lol, perks of being a millionaire ;)”

 

“Touché. One story then.”

 

“With our bedroom in one wing and the kids’ rooms in the opposite.”

 

“So they won't hear you?” Kelley replies, and Alex can just hear the teasing in her voice.

 

“If you don't watch it, you'll never hear me again either,” Alex warns.

 

“I'll be good, I promise,” Kelley replies, adding an angel emoji as an afterthought. “When can I see you?”

 

“Hmmmmm, soon,” Alex says. “If I don't have anything to cover tomorrow I'd love to come to your game.”

 

“You're always welcome,” Kelley texts back. “But hopefully you'll have an important meeting with your boss? Maybe?”

 

“Who knows,” Alex replies. “Everything kinda runs on Jill time, so I never know.”

 

“Fingers crossed,” Kelley says. “Get some sleep, pretty girl. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

 

“Sweet dreams,” Alex replies, plugging her phone in beside her bed before drifting off to have some of her own, smiling through the night.

 

~

 

Jill is in meetings all morning, so Alex is on edge all day, trying desperately to focus on her stories. By 4:30 she's given up hope of anything happening today, so she texts Kelley that she's leaving soon and starts packing up her things.

 

“Where are you going?” Allie asks, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Oh, um, the soccer game,” Alex says.

 

“Didn’t you already submit the story?”

 

When Alex had come home from her date with Kelley, she told Allie about it in vague terms, promising that she’d meet this mystery woman before long. She didn't want to jinx anything before Jill officially approved the story, but now it feels like a sure thing. Alex looks around before leaning in with a smile.

 

“Morgan!” a voice barks. Jill. “A word?”

 

“Tell you when I get out,” Alex whispers, grabbing her laptop. “Coming!”

 

“Close the door,” Jill says, not looking up when Alex walks in.

 

Alex can see her story on the desk, marked up with a few edits, and her heartbeat quickens. This is it.

 

“I read your story, and I was pleased with it,” Jill says. “But a situation came to my attention over the weekend, and I need to make sure it's ironed out before we move forward with it. Would you read this highlighted area?”

 

Alex nods, furrowing her brow as Jill hands her a piece of paper. It's an excerpt from the contract she signed when she got the job, and she skims it to figure out what she's looking at. “Use of company property is subject to review at any time at your supervisor’s discretion,” she reads. “I don't… what is this?”

 

Jill holds up a stack of papers stapled together. “I just wanted to remind you of the contract you signed when you were given a phone and computer for work purposes,” she says. “Now, nobody expects you to use them only for work purposes, but they are subject to review when necessary, and a tip from a concerned employee about a potential conflict of interest made it necessary.”

 

She slides the papers toward Alex, who feels like she's going to be sick. She can only imagine the texts they pulled, but her mind and heart are racing a million miles an hour, so the lines on the page blur.

 

“These pages include text messages exchanged between you and the subject of this story,” Jill says. “The content of which is undoubtedly inappropriate for a journalist and a source. Would you agree that these messages and the nature of a relationship they suggest present a clear conflict of interest?”

 

“Yes, but—” Alex stammers. She sees texts detailing a particularly steamy dream she’d had about Kelley and texts about Kelley’s plans to take Alex on a boat ride when it gets warm, all things that seemed so thrilling and fun at the time, but now seem to spell the end of Alex’s career.

 

“I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me about this when I offered you this assignment,” Jill says. “Especially given the stakes. Integrity goes a long way in considering promotions. You're an excellent reporter, and you were very much in the running for the last open anchor position, but this is a major blight on your qualifications.”

 

“I assure you I didn't do anything improper to…” Alex starts, her voice starting to shake.

 

Jill holds a hand up to stop her and sighs. “Here's my dilemma, Ms. Morgan. It's a compelling feature in many ways. It isn't a hard-hitting crime story, and I know we all know it will get a lot of attention. But it worries me first of all that you didn't disclose this relationship, and secondly that you may have let your relationship with the source prevent you from doing your best reporting.”

 

“What do you mean?” Alex asks, her heart sinking.

 

“Turn to the last page,” Jill says, and Alex does, only to see her texts with Kelley from just the night before. “Nowhere in your story did I read anything about the injury you spoke about in your messages. In fact, there wasn't much depth to the section discussing Ms. O’Hara’s retirement at all, which is surprising coming from you.”

 

Alex is speechless. She knows there's no way to defend this. “Who—who brought this to you?” she asks quietly. She racks her brain for anyone who could have possibly known, and all she can come up with is Tobin, but she couldn't have, not after her long apology and all the progress they've made just over the past week. She couldn't have.

 

“Our confidentiality policy prevents me from sharing anything beyond the person being concerned, and you're more than welcome to take that up with Human Resources,” Jill says sharply. “Now, I think you're an excellent reporter, and this is a wonderful story. It isn't the first time media have had to disclose a rather embarrassing conflict of interest, and I don't think it will reflect on us poorly enough to negate the attention. I'm willing to overlook the blatant disregard for company policy and still consider you for the upcoming anchor position under one condition.”

 

“Anything,” Alex says, fully aware that she's begging at this point.

 

“Cover this angle of the story,” Jill says. “I can piece some things together, but you're the one who can report it.”

 

“Nothing she said to me was on the record,” Alex says, her mouth going dry and her spine tingling. “The story was over.”

 

“Nothing’s over till it's published, and even then retractions and follow-ups exist for a reason,” Jill says. “This is as good a reason as any not to get involved with a source.”

 

“But it's—”

 

“Do you want the promotion or not?” Jill asks, raising an eyebrow. “Hell, do you even want to keep your current job? This situation violates so many conditions you agreed to, and I'm giving you an easy way out.”

 

Tears spring to Alex’s eyes as she thinks about the night she spent with Kelley on Friday, the one from the prior weekend, all the sweet words and soft touches in between. She remembers the pained look on Kelley’s face when she was detailing the end of her career and life as she knew it, the vulnerability in her eyes. In a burst of confidence and rage, Alex swallows and looks straight at Jill.

 

“If this is the only way to keep my job, I quit,” Alex says with finality. “I won't be blackmailed into putting a source at risk or betraying their trust.”

 

Jill looks surprised, but only momentarily before she collects herself. “Is that your final decision?”

 

“It is,” Alex says, voice trembling. She stands and unclips her badge from her belt loop, laying it on the desk before her.

 

“Very well,” Jill says. “You can go. Please have your things packed by the time you leave today, and leave all company property on top of your desk.” She stands and extends her hand to Alex, who just stares at it. She's sure as hell not going to shake it. “You can just leave your phone and computer here.”

 

Alex pulls her phone out of her pocket and lays it on the desk. It lights up with a text from Kelley that she knows she can't open, and she looks up at the ceiling to blink back her tears.

 

“Thank you very much for your hard work and service to the station, Ms. Morgan,” Jill says.

 

Alex spins on her heel and leaves without another word, letting Jill’s office door slam behind her. The whole newsroom turns to see the source of the noise, and Alex straightens her back and walks to her desk, collecting the few things she's brought to work to stay.

 

“What's wrong?” Allie asks, watching as Alex stuffs her bag with her journals and gel pens. “Alex, what is going on?”

 

“We’ll talk back at the house,” Alex whispers, her voice shaking in a surefire sign that she’s going to cry.

 

“Alex, you can't be serious!” Allie exclaims, trying to keep her voice down.

 

“I have to go, I can't take everyone staring,” Alex hisses. “Can you just take anything I left please?”

 

“Sure, but Al—”

 

“I'll see you at home,” Alex repeats, avoiding eye contact with everyone till she gets out of the newsroom. She manages to avoid bursting into tears till the door is closed, and the click clack of heels drowns out the sound of her gasping sobs (at least in her mind) as she rushes through the lobby and toward the parking garage.

 

She doesn't realize she's being followed, chased down with the sound of her own name, until she's out of the lobby and can hear Tobin’s voice. Tears in her eyes and venom in her voice, Alex turns.

 

“Don't you fucking dare talk to me,” she spits.

 

“Alex, what's going on?” Tobin asks. “Where are you going?”

 

“Don't act like you don't know, you backstabbing bitch!” Alex screams, her throat dry and voice raw. “I trusted you!”

 

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Tobin replies calmly, looking pained. 

 

“If it wasn't you it was your pathetic little girlfriend!” Alex exclaims. “You were the only person who knew, and I thought I could actually believe everything you said about wanting to be friends again. What a fucking idiot I was.”

 

“You're not an idiot, and I did mean it,” Tobin says. “What did Christen do? I mean, what do you think she did? I can almost guarantee she didn't do anything that would hurt you like this.”

 

“Just defend her then,” Alex says, crying so hard she can't catch her breath. “It's not like I'm not used to it by now. You're both disgusting and pathetic and… and… and mean!” She dissolves into sobs. “I never want to talk to you again.”

 

“You don't mean it,” Tobin says, walking toward her. “Tell me what's going on.”

 

“I do mean it!” Alex shouts. “You're dead to me.” She turns to find her car, her embarrassment at letting Tobin see her like this setting in. It's exactly what she wanted, and if it really wasn't her, it was Christen, who she’ll defend to the death no matter how successfully she tries to ruin Alex’s life.

 

Once safely in her car, Alex slams her fists against the steering wheel in frustration, letting herself really cry. This was her dream workplace, and she was well on her way to her dream job. She was so close she could taste it. She's angry at herself for letting this happen in the first place, for confiding in Tobin who couldn't keep her enormous mouth shut if she tried, for believing Tobin and Christen’s fake-ass apologies.

 

When she finishes crying, she sits and stares straight ahead, dumbfounded. She reaches for her phone to call Kelley before remembering she doesn't have a phone anymore. Luckily, the drive to Starr’s Mill is familiar by now, so she puts the car into drive, praying she hasn't missed the game entirely.

 

By the time she arrives, the last of the players and their families are filtering out, but Kelley’s car is still in the parking lot. Alex can see the score still on the board, 4-2 in favor of the home team. Kelley will be happy with that.

 

She passes a few players on her way to Kelley’s office and smiles at them. They give each other knowing looks and giggle surreptitiously, which makes her smile. She might have lost everything, but at least she has Kelley.

 

“Knock knock,” Alex says with as much cheer as she can muster. She pushes the door open to see Kelley on the couch, her eyes red and face blotchy. “What's wrong?” she gasps, rushing to Kelley’s side. Suddenly all her problems take a backseat.

 

“I've been calling you for twenty minutes,” Kelley says, standing up. “How dare you show your face here?”

 

“What?” Alex asks. “I don't have—what's going on?”

 

“Why don't you tell me?” Kelley asks. “Explain to me why some girl named Morgan called me telling me she was following up on my story. Explain why she knew everything about my ankle, the surgery, the money.”

 

Alex’s jaw drops, but she can't say a word. “Kelley, I—”

 

“I trusted you!” Kelley explodes. “I poured out my heart to you, I told you shit I haven't told my closest friends, and you turned around and… you used me!”

 

“I didn't!” Alex exclaims, tearing up again. “I can't believe you think I'd—”

 

“You said you'd do anything for this job,” Kelley grits through her teeth. “I didn't realize throwing me under a bus was included in that.”

 

“I didn't!” Alex repeats. “They read our texts, Jill asked me to—” She can't continue now, she's crying too hard. “I couldn't! I didn't.”

 

“Do you know how much trouble I could be in?” Kelley asks. “Seriously, do you have any idea? I signed a legal document. It's my ass on the line if any of this gets out and gets traced back to me. You get your cushy anchor position, and I get fucked in more ways than one. But hey, at least the sex was great, right?”

 

“Stop!” Alex cries. “You don't know what you're talking about, Kelley, listen to me please.”

 

“I have nothing left to say to you, and if I have to look at you another minute longer I think I'll be sick,” Kelley says, turning to her desk to pack her stuff.

 

“I didn't betray you,” Alex says softly, between gasping sobs. “I care about you so much. I know it's ridiculous, I know we barely know each other, but I want to.”

 

“Maybe you should have thought about that before stabbing me in the back,” Kelley spits. “Enjoy the anchor spot. I won't be watching.”

 

“I quit,” Alex says, her voice barely above a whisper.

 

That gets Kelley’s attention. “You what?”

 

“I couldn't do that to you,” Alex says. “You're too important to me. I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy.”

 

“You didn't what, tell them everything?” Kelley asks. “Then how did they know? Aside from my family, you're the only one who could have possibly known all of that.”

 

“I tried telling you, they monitor my texts,” Alex says. “Someone told them I had a conflict of interest, so they looked into it.”

 

“So your phone, the only number I have for you, is a company phone?” Kelley asks. Alex nods. “So the texts I sent about… oh, God.” She rubs her eyes, and Alex’s heart starts to return to its normal pace. “You're telling me you aren't a horrible backstabbing person, you're just stupid?”

 

Alex’s mouth opens of its own accord. “I'm not…”

 

“It's a relief to know you aren't literally a prostitute who will sleep with anyone for a story,” Kelley says. “But I can't say it makes me feel much better to know that your incompetence could land me in court and put me in millions of dollars of debt. Why didn't you think—”

 

“Why didn't you?” Alex exclaims. “You're the one who brought it up over text! How was I supposed to know Tobin would go blabbing and make them pull the records in the first place?”

 

“Tobin wouldn't do that to me,” Kelley says, her voice shaking.

 

“And I would? God, how little do you think of me?”

 

“I barely know you,” Kelley says. Alex’s heart sinks. “And that's my fault, for telling someone I just met my deepest secrets. But I appreciate it, Alex. I've learned my lesson. I won't make that mistake again.”

 

“Kelley, please,” Alex begs. “Just hear me out.”

 

“I can't,” Kelley says. “I need to call my lawyer. I should have talked to him before I even talked to you. You should really go.”

 

Alex wants to tell her to call her, text her, email her, whatever, but that's all gone now, and Kelley still refuses to meet her eyes. “So this is it?” she asks, her voice small.

 

“As far as I'm concerned, your story is done and so are we,” Kelley says. “It was fun, but it wasn't worth all this.”

 

When Alex closes the door behind her, she sinks down against the wall and cries. The hallway smells like sweat and gym socks, and she can't believe her skirt is touching this grimy floor, but none of it matters anymore anyway.

 

~

 

Coming home usually means pouring a glass of wine, decompressing from a long day, running a bubble bath, anything to take the stress of the day off, but tonight it just means more confrontation for Alex.

 

“Why didn't you tell me you were dating Kelley?” Allie demands as soon as Alex gets in the door, apparently unaware of how haggard she looks.

 

“I just had the worst day of my entire life,” Alex says, no tone to her voice. She doesn't have the energy. “Please don't pile on.”

 

“I'm your best friend!” Allie says. “I could have helped you.”

 

“No, you couldn't have,” Alex sighs. “I knew it was wrong, and I didn't want to drag you into it. I didn't need to take you down with me.”

 

Allie is quiet, staring at the bags in Alex’s hands and the box of things from Alex’s desk on the counter. “Is it really over?” she asks.

 

Alex’s eyes well up, and she’d have literally collapsed under the weight of the question, her uncertain future, and her tears if it weren't for Allie getting up to catch her, collecting her in a strong embrace, smoothing her hair and shushing her sobs. “Yeah,” Alex cries. “It's really over.”


	10. rule #10: when one door closes, another one opens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex grapples with her new reality and how to move forward.

The first step to unemployment is getting a new phone. Her own phone this time, the contents of which are for Alex’s eyes only. The next step is opting out of all her subscription services that won't be quite as easy to manage on zero income. This proves to be more tedious than she’d thought, especially because at least half of them are tied to her work email. The next step is crying. A lot of crying.

 

The worst part is probably having to make one of those embarrassing Facebook statuses about how she has a new number and to message her for it. A surprising number of old college hook-ups come out of the woodwork for that one.

 

One thing she did prepare for was losing photos, so she's relieved to still have a back-up tied to her email, but she gets sad when she opens it to see screenshots of Kelley’s Snapchats and a selfie of her kissing Kelley on the cheek from their “first date.”

 

She downloads Twitter and Instagram to change her bio from “Reporter for WSB-TV” to… well, she hasn't quite figured that out yet, but when she opens Twitter she has a flood of new followers and so many mentions she can hardly keep up. Most of them have photos of soccer players as their icons, and some of them even have Kelley’s name in their profiles and say something like the following:

 

@_koharas: @alexmorgan13 follow @kohara19!!!! I promise you won't regret it!!!!!

 

Alex clicks Kelley’s handle and goes to her page, where the tweet pinned to the top says:

 

@kohara19: Hey everyone!!! Can you do me an enormous favor and tweet @alexmorgan13 to PLEASE (be polite!) follow me so I can message her? Thanks y'all!

 

It was posted at 3:26 a.m., and yet people—a lot of people—apparently saw it, because they're still tweeting Alex almost 18 hours later. Alex follows Kelley without a moment’s hesitation.

 

@alexmorgan13: So many new followers, wow! I followed @kohara19, don't you worry! I hope you all stick around anyway :)

 

She has new followers and comments and likes on Instagram, and her last post, a picture of her and Allie on a night out after way too many martinis, has the most likes she's ever gotten, and it's filled with comments about how pretty she is. It may be shallow, but she can't help but be cheered up by it until she gets a message from Kelley.

 

“I was wrong. So wrong. I get it if you never want to speak to me ever again, but please call me.”

 

Alex presses the number in the message and it rings once before Kelley picks up.

 

“It’s me,” Alex says.

 

“Thank God,” Kelley breathes. “Alex, I'm so sorry. Those things I said—”

 

“I get it,” Alex says. “You were really upset. And with good reason.”

 

“I was terrified,” Kelley says. “I didn't know what you were going through, and I was insensitive and took all my fear and anger out on you. It wasn't fair, and I'm so sorry.”

 

“I'm sorry too,” Alex says. “I fucked up and I don't know how to fix it.”

 

“You quit,” Kelley says. “I can't believe you quit. For me, really?”

 

“I would have done it for anyone,” Alex replies. “Keeping my sources’ trust is important to me.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Kelley says. “Sure.”

 

“Did you talk to your lawyer?”

 

“I did,” Kelley says. “And that girl, the new reporter. I told her I had no further comment on any part of the story, and that she's more than welcome to run something without any proof or source to back it up. Then I name-dropped the WSB-TV owner, and she thanked me for my time and wished me well.”

 

Alex laughs. “You know they'll still run it. They're desperate for the clicks.”

 

“They don't have any details. They don't have a time frame or a doctor’s name or location or anything,” Kelley says. “My lawyer said I held up my end of the agreement because I didn't disclose any identifying information, and they have no way of getting that, at least through me.”

 

“Thank God,” Alex sighs.

 

“I'm sorry,” Kelley says. “If it weren't for me you'd have a job and probably that damn anchor position. I promise I'll make it up to you somehow. I can fix it.”

 

“You can't,” Alex says. “But that's okay. Allie and I talked about it, and I was on my way out anyway. If they couldn't appreciate me while I was there enough to give me a promotion or at least more responsibility, I should have left long ago.”

 

“I think I agree with that,” Kelley says. “Let me know how I can help, though. I can tweet people to pay you, it worked so well last time.”

 

Alex laughs. “That was kind of sweet.”

 

“Kind of?” Kelley exclaims. “Wait, are we on a secure line?” she whispers.

 

“Yes,” Alex replies, rolling her eyes.

 

“Good,” Kelley says. “Then I can tell you how glad I am that your roommate knows about us now so I can spend the night at your place and make you—”

 

“Stop it!” Alex giggles. “So are we… doing that?”

 

“Having sex? It was so good the first time I had hoped so.”

 

“Me too, but…”

 

“If you will have me, I would love to be your girlfriend,” Kelley says.

 

“I will definitely have you,” Alex says, smiling to herself. “But I'm still unemployed, so it might be a lot of noodles and nights in for a while.”

 

“Luckily I'm still a millionaire,” Kelley retorts. “But noodles and nights in sound amazing. So does taking you out and showing you off. And meeting your roommate. And double dates with your besties Tobin and Christen.”

 

“Don't say their names ever again,” Alex says sharply.

 

“I talked to Tobin,” Kelley says. “She had nothing to do with it. She didn't even know what happened. She told Christen about us, but only so Christen wouldn't accidentally slip about that night they came over.”

 

“I don't trust that girl,” Alex says. “And Tobin should have known better.”

 

Kelley sighs. “I don't know if we’ll ever know, babe. What about all the crews you brought around? They could have sensed something going on.”

 

“They're all my friends, they wouldn't,” Alex insists. “Or they would have at least given me a lot of shit for it.” Her phone makes an unfamiliar noise in her ear (then again, they're all unfamiliar because she hasn't had enough time to customize them), so she looks at it to see a text from an unknown number. “Hang on, putting you on speaker,” Alex says, opening it up. “Holy shit. Holy shit!”

 

“What?” Kelley asks.

 

“It's Christen!” Alex exclaims. “It's fucking Christen, I knew it!”

 

“Yeah you just said that,” Kelley sighs. “But I really don't think—”

 

“I just got this text,” Alex says. “From a number I don't have. It's probably one of those fake numbers too because it’s a text, not an iMessage.”

 

“What does it say?”

 

“Karma’s a bitch, maybe you should think about that next time you act like a snobby whore.”

 

“What the fuck?” Kelley exclaims. “Why would that be Christen?”

 

“Who else would call me snobby?”

 

“A snobby whore though?” Kelley asks.

 

“I mean you essentially called me a whore last night.”

 

“Yeah, but I'm the only one who gets to. Besides, how would Christen get your number?”

 

“Allie!” Alex exclaims.

 

“What?” Allie asks, walking through the door at the perfect time to be accosted by Alex.

 

“Did you give anyone my number at work today?” Alex asks. “Like Tobin or Christen?”

 

“No, I'm not an idiot,” Allie says. “If they had asked—which, by the way, they didn't, they just asked how you were feeling—I wouldn't give it to them, I know you hate them.”

 

“So nobody else?”

 

“No!” Allie exclaims. “If they want it they can go through you.”

 

“You haven't given it to that many people I assume,” Kelley says. “It shouldn't be hard to narrow down.”

 

“Is that Kelley?” Allie mouths, pointing at the phone.

 

Alex nods, and Allie gives her a thumbs up before she starts putting the groceries away.

 

“Wait!” Allie says. “I did give it to someone, but you can't get mad. You said you and Kelley were over, and I know Greg has been thirsting after you for years, so I thought he might finally ask you out. But that's it, I promise.”

 

“Oh my God,” Alex breathes.

 

“Isn’t he the one who asked you out last week?” Kelley asks at the same time. “Oh. Oh my God.”

 

“What’s going on?” Allie asks. “He asked you out? And you didn’t tell me?”

 

“More importantly, I fucked up,” Alex says. “Really, really badly.”

 

~

 

Alex wishes she had the courage to do this herself and not involve Kelley, but Kelley did volunteer, and it’s a lot more relaxing to sit in a coffeeshop with someone holding your hand and rubbing circles in your palm with their thumb than sitting alone anyway.

 

Christen enters first, Tobin holding the door open for her and following close behind. Alex stands nervously and smiles, but Christen grins, hugging her and then Kelley.

 

“Want coffee, babe?” Tobin asks, smiling at Kelley and ignoring Alex altogether.

 

“Flat white please,” Christen says.

 

“No, let me,” Alex insists.

 

“You’re broke, let me,” Kelley laughs. Alex shoots her a look, but Kelley nods her head toward the table, and Alex knows she’s giving her a moment to be that courageous.

 

“How are you, Alex?” Christen asks, taking a seat. Tobin sits beside her and folds her hands in front of her. “I don’t know what’s truth and what’s rumor anymore, but I have to imagine you’re having a hard time.”

 

“I am, yeah, thank you,” Alex says. “It’s… it’s really fine. That’s not what I want to talk about, though. I really just wanted—needed—to apologize to you. Both of you.” Tobin doesn’t look up. “Tobs.”

 

“How many times will we do this?” Tobin sighs. “You get mad at me for something ridiculous, we make up, and we start the cycle again. It was the same way when we were friends.”

 

“You said it wasn’t ridiculous,” Alex says. “You said you understood where I was coming from last week.”

 

“I did,” Tobin says. “I do. But God, would it kill you to give me the benefit of the doubt even once? I told you all my secrets. You were the one who helped me come out to my mom, the one who was always there for me when I needed someone to pull an all-nighter to make a deadline. Then it was just over, like you didn’t even know me, and that was hard. Then I got so excited that we were finally getting somewhere and you accuse me of doing something horrible to you.”

 

“Because you were the only one I told!” Alex exclaims. “I’m sorry, I really am.”

 

“How many times are you going to say that?”

 

“Babe,” Christen says softly, placing a hand over Tobin’s. “Alex is dealing with a lot right now. I really appreciate your apology, and I accept it,” she says to Alex. “You’re a big person for asking us to come here. And I’m really horribly sorry about what happened to you. You’re a wonderful journalist, and you don’t deserve that.”

 

“Here you go,” Kelley says, arms full of coffee as she gently sets them down before taking her spot at the table.

 

“Now this is what I want to hear about,” Christen says, wiggling her eyebrows at Kelley and Alex. She takes a sip of her coffee and hums in appreciation. “How on earth did this happen? I even asked Tobin after dinner with your family, and she said she didn't know anything.”

 

“I didn't then!” Tobin exclaims.

 

Kelley laughs, squeezing Alex’s shaking knee to settle her. “Alex couldn't resist my cute face.”

 

“Keep telling yourself that,” Alex mumbles. Kelley leans over to kiss her hair softly, and even Tobin smiles.

 

“I'm happy you're both happy,” Tobin says. “But you can never break up because I know Alex will find some way to make it my fault.”

 

Alex drops her jaw in mock offense, and Tobin winks. For the first time, Alex feels thankful for Christen.

 

~

 

They talk until Kelley has to go back to work, the conversation becoming less stilted and more natural as they chat. Kelley is a born blender, someone who could take brand new people and integrate them into an established group of friends in such a way that nobody would notice she's doing it. Alex stares at her in awe as she makes effortless conversation with Christen and even comes up with a plan for a putt-putt double date that nobody seems to mind.

 

“You're amazing,” Alex says when she gets to her car. “Thank you for coming. I couldn't have done it without you.”

 

“Sure you could have,” Kelley replies, standing on her tiptoes to kiss Alex quickly.

 

“I still like having you around,” Alex says. “Which is why I’m annoyed that you’re going out of town.”

 

“Just for the weekend,” Kelley reminds her, but Alex still pouts. She’s flying out to National Team camp to visit and see a game. It’s progress for a girl who still wallows when a new roster gets released. “I get back Sunday night, and after that, I’m all yours.”

 

“Does that mean you’ll spend all next weekend with me at my apartment?”

 

“The whole weekend?” Kelley asks, raising an eyebrow. “Your roommate won't mind?”

 

“She wants to meet you,” Alex insists. “Friday night I'll cook and she can have her fiancée over and we’ll drink wine and play board games and maybe watch a movie. She’ll love you.”

 

“I'll see if I can clear my calendar,” Kelley teases. “I'm a very busy person, you know.”

 

“Very busy people don't text their girlfriends puppy videos all day.”

 

“Uh, yeah, what do you think I'm busy doing?” Kelley asks. “I do have to get back to work, though.”

 

“So you can get to finding me more puppy videos.”

 

“You get it,” Kelley laughs, opening the door for Alex so she can slide into the driver’s seat. She leans in for a kiss and goes to close the door, but then she stops herself. “Oh, I meant to tell you,” she says. “I know you're still freaked about that creepy text from the other day, but you're going to get a call this afternoon from an unknown number, and you're going to want to answer it.”

 

Alex narrows her eyes. “Why…”

 

“You'll see,” Kelley says, giving her another kiss. “But in the meantime I'll keep the puppy videos coming.”

 

~

 

Alex lies in bed staring at her phone for about an hour after she gets home, even resorting to her old faithful boredom killer, Candy Crush, before her phone finally rings. It's an Atlanta number, and Kelley told her to answer, so she does.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hi, is this Alex Morgan?” a too-peppy voice on the other end asks.

 

“It is.” Alex sits up, straightening her back. “Who's this?”

 

“This is Crystal from Fox Sports South. Do you have a minute?”

 

Alex sighs heavily. Sports media have been calling her since her first piece about Kelley did so well, but she doesn't know how they got her new number. “Um, I’m actually waiting for a call,” she says.

 

“That's okay, I won't be a minute!” Crystal says. “I'm calling because we looked at your reel and we think you'd be a really good fit for our team. I know sports isn't really your beat, but you do stories about people beautifully, and you have a great presence.”

 

“Wha—how'd you get my reel?” Alex asks. She hasn't sent any out yet.

 

“Um,” the girl laughs. “Sorry, I thought you knew. Kelley O’Hara reached out to some of our people and your stuff made its way to talent acquisition. Are you not looking?”

 

“No!” Alex exclaims. “I mean, yes, I am. Definitely looking. I just—I didn't know.”

 

“Well, I just wanted to call you to set up a time for you to come in, meet with some people, do a screen test, all that. Are you busy next Monday?”

 

Alex almost laughs. “No, I'm definitely not busy,” she says.

 

“Great, does 2 p.m. work for you?”

 

“Definitely.”

 

“Okay, perfect, I'll send you an email confirming that and outlining all the details of where to go on Monday. I'll let you go, I know you're expecting a call, but I'm excited to meet you!”

 

“Me too,” Alex says, dumbfounded. She looks down at her phone to see the call disconnect and immediately calls Kelley.

 

“What's up, buttercup?” Kelley answers.

 

“What did you do?” Alex demands.

 

“Hello to you too.”

 

“Hi. What did you do? Why is Fox Sports calling me?”

 

“Because you're a wonderful journalist and person and they'd be lucky to have you?”

 

“Kel! They said you sent my reel.”

 

“I may have talked to some people.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Hush, that's not important. What did they say on the phone?”

 

“Like you don't know.”

 

“I don't! They said they'd look at your stuff and give you a call, that's all.”

 

“They asked me to come in for an interview,” Alex says, the excitement in her voice getting the most of her.

 

“No way, that’s amazing, bud!” Kelley exclaims. “Dude, you’re incredible. WSB-TV doesn’t know what they lost.”

 

“Thanks,” Alex says, already racking her brain for what she’s going to wear. “It’s just an interview, though.”

 

“Please, they’re going to love you,” Kelley says. “Listen, the bell’s going to ring any minute and I have to set up for practice, but I’ll call you as soon as it’s over. Maybe I can take you out for dinner or something to celebrate.”

 

“No celebrating till I have a job,” Alex says. “But we’ll talk later. I’m going to go Google every sport so I’m ready.”

 

“You know who else could help you get ready?” Kelley suggests, leaving her question open-ended.

 

Alex groans, and she’ll never admit to Kelley that she had already been thinking about calling Tobin. “Enjoy practice.”

 

~

 

When Tobin comes over to help Alex prepare for her interview, it’s less about sports and more about Alex remembering why they were best friends.

 

“Nothing has changed,” Tobin notes in awe, looking around the kitchen for the fifth time since getting there. “I feel like if I went into my room right now all my stuff would still be there.”

 

“Sadly it’s not, because I could have really used your printer this week,” Alex laughs. “Can you please educate me about sports?”

 

“That’s not why they want you,” Tobin says, pulling out her laptop and setting it down on the counter. “They can teach you everything you ever needed to know about sports, but they can’t teach charisma and hard work and talent.”

 

Alex blushes. “Thanks, Tobs.”

 

Tobin smiles, opening her laptop, but then she seems to rethink it and close it again. “You seem happy. Happier than you ever were at the station.”

 

Alex shrugs. “Kelley makes me really happy.”

 

“I can tell that,” Tobin says. “But I don’t think that’s it. I don’t think you would have been happy there. You were always destined for so much more. I always—” She stops herself.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing, never mind,” Tobin says, reaching for her computer.

 

“Tobin, tell me!” Alex exclaims, grabbing her wrist to stop her.

 

“I always kind of thought you were only interested in the anchor roles because they were the obvious next step at WSB-TV,” Tobin says quietly, avoiding eye contact. “Obviously you’re brilliant on camera, but I always kind of thought you could have, I don’t know, dreamed bigger.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You would have been an amazing anchor, but you would have been an even better producer,” Tobin says. “Everyone always thought Ali would be an anchor, but she was more interested in pulling all the strings behind the scenes. And I thought you’d be incredible at that. Not that you won’t be incredible in any position, but… I don’t know. You were so focused on the anchor thing that you let yourself get burned out spinning your wheels for that one thing. If you hadn’t left, I think you would have made yourself miserable.”

 

“Is that why you didn’t recommend me?”

 

“I’ve told you why,” Tobin says. “And I’m sorry. I’m still sorry. And even if that was a little bit of the reason, I should have talked to you about it. We were friends, you might have even listened to me. Or not, you’ve always been pretty stubborn.”

 

Alex laughs. “That’s true.” She lets out a heavy sigh and hugs Tobin. “Thank you.”

 

“For what?”

 

“Being my friend,” Alex replies. “Forgiving me for being petty. Knowing me better than I know myself sometimes.”

 

Tobin smiles, tilting her head so it’s resting on Alex’s shoulder.

 

“But mostly for indirectly making it possible for me to meet Kelley,” Alex jokes. “I’m always a lot happier when I’m getting laid regularly.”

 

~

 

Their Friday night double date turns into a triple date when Allie and Kelley somehow conspire together to invite Tobin and Christen. As much as the idea pains Alex, she knows she’s going to have to push through the irritation to be friends with Christen eventually, especially if she continues on the mend with Tobin.

 

Kelley comes over right after school to help Alex set up for dinner, bringing with her an overnight bag and a bottle of wine. She and Alex had gone out for dinner after Alex’s interview that Monday, but with two away games and a ton of recommendations to write for her players, Alex hadn’t seen her since.

 

“This smells so good,” Kelley gushes when the apartment fills with the aroma of spaghetti and meatballs (Alex’s only specialty, not that she’ll admit it this soon into the relationship). She wraps her arms around Alex’s waist and kisses her neck from behind while Alex stirs the sauce, and Alex can’t tell if it’s the stove or Kelley making her so warm all of a sudden.

 

“See, when you live in an apartment, the whole place fills up,” Alex says, turning her head to kiss Kelley on the lips.

 

“About that…” Kelley says. “I may have done something sneaky.”

 

Alex turns her whole body around to face Kelley and narrows her eyes. “More sneaking around? Should I be worried about how good you are at keeping things from me?”

 

“Not at all,” Kelley promises. “I called the leasing people for your building and applied for an apartment.”

 

“What?” Alex squeals, jumping up and down in Kelley’s arms. “Are you serious?”

 

“Dead serious,” Kelley says. “It’s a great location, but I wanted to talk to you about it first because I didn’t want it to be like I’m stalking you.”

 

Alex laughs. “Are you kidding? I’d love for you to live here! In the building, I mean. Oh my gosh, when are you going to move in?”

 

“Hold your horses,” Kelley says. “I only just got approved, I still have to sign my lease, but hopefully as soon as possible.”

 

“And you aren’t concerned about the commute?”

 

“To school? Nah. Most people are heading into the city in the mornings, not the other way around. It’ll be fine.”

 

“And you don’t want to live somewhere nicer, Miss Millionaire?”

 

“That’s sugar daddy to you,” Kelley teases, much to Alex’s chagrin. “And no, I want to live here. I have to save up for our one-story house.”

 

“Or our elevator,” Alex replies, grinning.

 

“That too.”

 

A knock on the door interrupts them, but Kelley kisses Alex on the cheek and practically skips to the door, where Tobin and Christen are standing with yet another bottle of wine (classic) and homemade chocolate chip cookies (because of course).

 

“Welcome!” Kelley exclaims. “It’s literally my first time here ever, so I’m probably not the best person to welcome you, but I did set the table and help with the garlic bread.”

 

“Such a great sous chef,” Alex calls from the kitchen. “Anyone want anything to drink? Allie, Bati, get your asses out here, we have company!”

  
The apartment, which moments before had been quiet save for the crackling of the sauce on the stove and the Tracy Chapman album playing through the speakers (which Christen comments on immediately), comes alive with activity. Alex smiles as she surveys the scene in front of her. There are a few new faces since last time they did anything like this, but Alex doesn’t think she’d trade it for the world.

 

“So much to celebrate!” Allie exclaims when they lift their glasses for the first toast once they’ve sat at the table for dinner. “Alex’s interview, Tobin’s new gig…”

 

Tobin’s eyes widen when Allie says that, and Alex turns to look at her. “What new gig?”

 

“Um,” Tobin says. “I didn’t want—”

 

“What new gig?” Alex asks with a genuine smile. “If good things are happening, I want to know.”

 

“She’s the new sports anchor for the evening news,” Allie says. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was a secret.”

 

“It’s not,” Tobin says. “It’s just—I don’t know.”

 

“That’s great, Tobs,” Alex says. “But what about…” She doesn’t want to say Greg’s name, and they all understand.

 

“He, um, was let go,” Christen says.

 

“Wait, what?” Alex exclaims. “Why?”

 

Tobin, Allie, and Christen all exchange nervous glances.

 

“Because of me?”

  
“He got reported to HR for sexual harassment,” Tobin says.

 

“Who reported him?”

 

Christen bites her bottom lip, looking everywhere except for Alex’s eyes, but Alex notices.

  
“Christen, you didn’t.”

 

“He’s a jerk!” Christen exclaims. “He hit on everyone, including you that one time a few weeks ago, and he can’t just do what he did to you and get away with it. That’s sexual harassment.”

 

Alex feels shell-shocked, but after a moment she laughs. “Oh my God,” she says. “You’re my hero.” Christen’s face turns pink as Alex lifts her glass. “To Christen!”

 

“To Christen!” everyone cheers back.

 

Tobin kisses her on the cheek, and for the first time Alex doesn’t want to puke watching them. Then again, she does have Kelley’s arm draped across the back of her chair.

  
The ringing of Alex’s phone interrupts the music playing over the speakers, and she jumps up from the table to grab it. “Eat, eat!” she says. “It’ll go cold.” She grabs the phone and unplugs it. “Hello?” she asks, walking toward her room, where it’s quieter. She can feel Kelley’s eyes on her, and she looks straight back when she hears the voice on the other line.

 

“Alex, it’s Crystal,” the voice says. It’s still peppy, but now Alex is used to it. “I’m so sorry to call late in the evening, but it was so great meeting you on Monday, and we’d like to offer you the job.”

 

Alex’s hand flies to her face, and Kelley’s face turns to one of concern. “Yes!” Alex exclaims. “I mean, yes please!”

 

Crystal laughs. “Well, I’ll send you over a formal proposal and contract for you to sign, but if all goes according to plan, we’d like you to start a week from Monday.”

 

“Oh my God, thank you so much!” Alex exclaims. “Have a good weekend!”

 

“You too,” Crystal says. “Welcome to the team.”

 

“What was that?” Kelley asks as soon as Alex is off the phone.

 

“I got it!” Alex exclaims. “The job!”

 

Kelley jumps up from the table to give Alex a hug, squeezing her tight and peppering kisses all over her cheek and jaw. “Of course you did!” she says.

 

“Congratulations, Al!” Allie says, standing up to hug her next. “You’re going to crush.”

 

“Way to go, killer,” Tobin says, giving Alex the first real hug they’ve shared in months. “I’m so proud of you.”

 

“Congratulations, Alex.” Christen is the last to embrace Alex, and she is softer than Alex imagined she’d be. “You really deserve this. I can’t wait to see how well you do.”

 

“Thanks, Christen,” Alex says, wiping a tear of excitement (is that a thing?) from her eye before sitting back down next to Kelley, who kisses her on the cheek again.

 

“So proud of you,” Kelley whispers, squeezing her hand underneath the table.

 

“Wait, guys, I want to make another toast,” Alex says, setting her fork down and lifting her glass. “To all of you—and I do mean all—for making this possible. Even though how I got here—how we all got here, sitting around this table right now, peacefully and without Xanax—might not be the prettiest story, I think it’s one worth telling.”

 

“Hear, hear!” Tobin says.

 

“To stories worth telling,” Alex announces, clinking her glass against everyone’s before finally clinking against Kelley’s, pressing her lips softly against her girlfriend’s before pulling back only slightly and whispering. “I think ours is my favorite, though.”


	11. epilogue: all good things must come to an end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Kelley take their next steps together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so now this is _really_ the end. Thanks for loving this story so much and for encouraging me along the way! You made it fun for me to write, and I'm excited to revisit these characters and this universe down the road :)

In the years after Alex left what she thought was her “dream job,” life just kept getting better. She got a new job where the pay was better, the bosses valued her, and she got to travel and meet amazing people all the time. Best of all, she knew what she was doing actually mattered to people.

 

Working in sports media as a person who previously didn't care about sports has changed Alex for the better, she thinks. Every day is a learning experience, and she unearths passion she never knew she had within her. The same can be said of her relationship. She and Kelley are almost three years strong, and the past few years have been a whirlwind.

 

Alex can still remember the nights they spent at Kelley’s parents’ house, even though they feel like they were so long ago now that she wakes up to Kelley nearly every morning. Allie moved in with Bati when their lease was up, and even though six months felt fast to Alex, she moved her things two floors up to Kelley’s apartment, which quickly became theirs.

 

Kelley’s life, she insists, has only become richer since meeting Alex, and her generally cheery outlook on life reflects that claim. She loves work, she loves living close enough to her parents that they have dinner twice a month, and she loves Alex Morgan. She sends her flowers at work once in a blue moon, and she shows up from time to time just because she can. Alex is happy, or at least she claims to be every time Kelley asks (multiple times a week).

 

And Alex couldn't lie to Kelley if she tried. She is happy, blissfully so, which is why it scares her so much to consider something that could completely throw a wrench into it.

 

“Honey, I'm home!” Kelley sings, breezing into the living room where Alex is on her laptop, responding to emails. She leans in to give Alex a kiss, and Alex grants her one, but crinkles her nose.

 

“Honey, you're sweaty,” she giggles.

 

“Practice got wild,” Kelley says. “Don't worry, I'm showering. Care to join?”

 

“How about I order food while you shower? Chinese?” Alex suggests.

 

Kelley narrows her eyes. “What's wrong?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“We only order Chinese when we’re on our periods or one of us had a bad day, and unless we've somehow gone out of sync…”

 

“I just wanted Chinese,” Alex insists. “Kung pao chicken?”

 

“And lots of fortune cookies,” Kelley says, still not fully believing Alex.

 

Later, when she lies on the couch with her head in Alex’s lap, she still doesn't believe her.

 

“You're being quiet, my love,” Kelley murmurs, kissing her knee.

 

“Just thinking,” Alex says softly. “How's your ankle?”

 

“It's alright,” Kelley says. “I probably went a little too hard at practice, and I'll pay for it tonight when I'm trying to sleep.”

 

“Sorry, baby,” Alex says, running her fingers through Kelley’s hair.

 

“It's okay, it's fun playing with the girls,” Kelley replies. “I never want to be the boring coach on the sidelines just telling them what to do.”

 

Alex hums her understanding, and Kelley shifts in her lap so she's looking up at Alex.

 

“Hey,” Kelley murmurs, tapping her girlfriend’s chin. “Talk to me.”

 

“I got offered a promotion.”

 

Kelley sits up quickly, looking at Alex with wide eyes. “Dude! That's amazing! Why wouldn't you tell me that?”

 

“I don't know if I'm going to take it.”

 

“Okay,” Kelley says slowly. “Why wouldn't you?”

 

“It's in LA.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Starting in January.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Well… what would you be doing?”

 

“I'd be a producer,” Alex says. “Mostly in the studio there, but there would be a little bit of travel.”

 

Kelley nods, processing it all. “Do you want to be behind the scenes?” It's something Alex has been talking about for a while now, but only hypothetically.

 

“Yeah, I think I do,” Alex replies. “It's… a pretty incredible raise, too.”

 

“I don't see any reason why you shouldn't take it then,” Kelley says decisively. “You've worked too damn hard to pass it up. You were just starting out three years ago, and you've moved up in the ranks so quickly. Of course you were going to outgrow it. LA needs you, and you need something new.”

 

Alex’s eyes water. “You aren't even going to try to stop me?”

 

“What? Why the hell would I? What kind of person would that make me?”

 

“The kind who loves her girlfriend?” Alex asks, her voice raising.

 

“Hang on,” Kelley says, squeezing Alex’s knee. “Look at me. You can't think I'm letting you go to LA alone. I'm coming, babe. I don't care what I have to do to make it work, I'm coming with you.”

 

“What?” Alex sniffles.

 

“I love you,” Kelley says. “I'm in love with you, and my plan involves spending the rest of my life with you. The timing isn't ideal, I mean I have commitments, but we can do a few months apart while I finish out the season with the girls. I don't want to be away from you at all, but I want you to be happy, and if this promotion will make you happy, I'm on board.”

 

“Kel,” Alex breathes, touched by her selflessness. “Don't you want to think about it a little?”

 

“Only as long as you do,” Kelley says. “We've been here and spending time with my family and living in my hometown for ages. It's your turn. Tell me where you're going, and I'll follow. It's simple for me when it comes to you.” She lifts Alex’s chin to kiss her lips. “How much time do you need?”

 

“I don't think I do,” Alex says quietly. “I think I know already.”

 

Kelley beams, grinning from ear to ear, and grabs a fortune cookie (her third) off the coffee table. She unwraps it and cracks it open, pulling the strip of paper out. “Oh wow, Al,” she gasps. “It says ‘a grand adventure awaits you.’”

 

“No it doesn't,” Alex laughs, rolling her eyes as she grabs at the paper.

 

“Okay, it doesn't,” Kelley admits. “It actually says there will be a new love in my life, so you better watch out.”

 

Alex pouts, tearing the fortune in half and then shredding it into tiny pieces. “There better not be.”

 

“Oh, it also said you should kiss me,” Kelley says, smacking her forehead as if just remembering.

  
Alex rolls her eyes again before leaning in to kiss Kelley, her arms wrapping around her neck. “Are you sure?” she whispers. “About moving?”

 

Kelley grins. “California here we come.”

 

~

 

It's supposed to be Alex’s parents’ year to host the couple for Christmas, but once they find out Alex is moving home soon, they're okay with letting Kelley’s family have more time with them. The holiday season feels somber in Atlanta, and even though they're supposed to be soaking up their time together before trying this whole long-distance thing, Alex can't enjoy it like usual.

 

Kelley does everything in her power to make it feel special, going all out to decorate the house and come up with fun Christmassy activities, but all Alex wants to do is lie on the couch in Kelley’s arms and watch movies, paying more attention to the strong arms around her than whatever is on the Hallmark channel.

 

Alex stubbornly refuses to pack her things, which results in a blowout fight on New Year’s Eve, emotions running high three days before Alex is set to leave. Tobin and Christen are hosting a New Year’s Eve party so highly anticipated that Alex had a dress picked out six weeks in advance, but Kelley puts her foot down and says there's no way they're going unless Alex gets her shit together.

 

“You're being completely insensitive!” Alex cries, her face a puffy red mess.

 

“No, Alex, you are!” Kelley shouts back, throwing a handful of hangers into a box filled with Alex's clothes. “We’re going to go to the party, get wasted, and sleep all day tomorrow to avoid facing the hangover. Then we have one more day together and then we’re road tripping across the country to move all your shit, and I get about three hours with you there before I have to fly back.”

 

“You offered!” Alex exclaims. “I said I'd have my stuff shipped. You were the one who said you'd come with me.”

 

“Because I didn't want you driving three thousand miles by yourself with a trailer on the back of your tiny car!” Kelley says, exasperated. They've had this conversation countless times. “Forgive me if I would rather spend your last day here having fun and enjoying our time together than being stressed about packing and all this other trivial bullshit!”

 

“If you're in such a hurry to get rid of me, I'll call the trailer rental place and just go by myself tonight,” Alex says, flopping on the bed dramatically. “Would that be better?”

 

“Yeah, Alex, that's exactly what I said, good job listening,” Kelley deadpans, rolling her eyes and turning back to the boxes.

 

“Baby,” Alex says softly, choking out a sob. “I don't want to go.”

 

Kelley turns around to see her face streaked with tears that just keep flowing. “Alex,” she sighs, climbing onto the bed to take her girlfriend into her arms. “I don't want you to go either. Or I wish it could wait a few months till I can join you, but it can't wait. And you're going to get our apartment all ready for me and get settled in, and I'll be there so soon.”

 

“And you'll come see me on Valentine’s Day?” Alex pouts.

 

“You know it,” Kelley laughs. “And you'll come here if we get to the state championships.”

 

“When,” Alex corrects. “You're going all the way.”

 

Kelley smiles, leaning her forehead against Alex’s. “I'm going to miss you every day, but you're going to have the best time, okay? And I'll be there before you know it.”

 

Alex kisses Kelley’s nose. “No more yelling.”

 

“If we can finish taping up all these boxes by dinner time, definitely no more yelling,” Kelley bargains. “Then we’ll go to the party, get crazy drunk, have sex on their balcony, get kicked out, have sex in the Uber, then have sex right here till we pass out.”

 

“Romantic,” Alex laughs.

 

“I love you.” Kelley swings a leg over Alex’s lap and pins her down flat onto the bed.

 

“I love you more,” Alex replies, staring up at her in awe.

 

Kelley leans down for a kiss, but Alex pushes her away. “What?”

 

“Just stay right there,” Alex says softly, gazing at Kelley’s face. “This is my favorite view of you, and I don't want to forget any of it.”

 

“You're so dramatic,” Kelley groans, but she does as told, biting her lip and smiling down at Alex. “Let me know when I can get back to ravishing you.”

 

~

 

Alex can't imagine long distance can get much harder than when she has to kiss Kelley goodbye at the airport, but then she has to sleep alone in a brand new bed for her first night in an unfamiliar apartment. Then she has to go grocery shopping without Kelley pulling out all the junk food she throws into the cart, and when she goes home and unloads a year’s worth of calories, she realizes she's probably going to die without Kelley.

 

During their nightly phone calls, Alex does her best to hide her misery, not wanting to bring Kelley down. Kelley’s happy. She loves her job, she loves the girls, she loves having time to spend with her friends—Alex’s friends. Alex likes her job and her coworkers, but she's lonely. It's hard to branch out when she doesn't have a safety net, so beyond happy hours after work and catching up with high school friends, she keeps to herself, giving her plenty of time to think about Kelley and their future and everything that will probably go wrong.

 

Kelley visits, as promised, for Valentine's Day, and she cries after they make love for the first time in weeks.

 

“Kel,” Alex murmurs, kissing her forehead. “Was it that bad? I'm out of practice, you know.”

 

Kelley can't help but laugh. “I just love you and miss you so much,” she says. “I'm sorry, I'm a mess.”

 

“I miss you every second,” Alex says, but Kelley doesn't stop crying.

 

“The girls ask about you all the time, so much that I turned practice into an Alex-free zone. When I'm thinking about you and missing you, it distracts me from everything,” she continues. “I'm sorry, I said I wouldn't cry, I told myself we were going to have a happy weekend and I wouldn't bring you down.”

 

“Stop it,” Alex says, wiping Kelley’s tears with her thumb. “I'm miserable too. So miserable. Selfishly I just want you here with me.”

 

Kelley sniffles, burrowing into Alex’s neck. “I'm going to miss them so much, but I can't do this any longer than we absolutely have to.”

 

“Trust me, the second that whistle blows and your girls are state champions, I'm grabbing you and not letting you go till you're here where you belong.”

 

“It might be hard to pack that way. And drive across the country.”

 

Alex shrugs. “I'm willing to make the sacrifice.”

 

~

 

The run-up to the playoffs isn't easy by any means, and Kelley’s team plays a few hard-fought matches to get to the semifinals. Alex listens to the semifinal match on a radio stream on her computer with bated breath, finger poised over the button to confirm her plane tickets home—no, not home anymore—which she books as soon as the announcer says Starr’s Mill is heading to the finals.

 

Erin picks her up from the airport to take her back to the O’Haras’ for dinner because Kelley has her last practice with the team. Alex has two sisters of her own, but living in the same city as Erin and seeing the bond she and Kelley share made them close over time.

 

Kelley’s family has always made Alex feel like one of them. The first time she came over as Kelley’s girlfriend they teased both her and Kelley relentlessly about their terrible secret-keeping skills, and Karen had teamed up with Alex to play Trivial Pursuit and crush everyone else.

 

Alex whines about how hungry she is almost the entire way home (she tries to ask Erin about her life, but when she hasn't eaten in a few hours she can't think of much else), so she notices the second Erin diverges from the way home.

 

“Where are we going?” Alex demands. “I thought your mom was making me a snack.”

 

Erin laughs. “She is, but Kelley wanted to see you first.”

 

“She’ll see me when she gets home,” Alex whines. “I look awful.”

 

“You look fine, don't be a baby,” Erin says, rolling her eyes. “She's obsessed with you.”

 

“She better have snacks,” Alex grumbles, fumbling around in her carry-on for her makeup bag to erase the dark circles resulting from lack of sleep because she was so excited to see Kelley the night before.

 

When they arrive at the field, the team isn't even out there yet, which Alex knows means Kelley’s going to be late getting back to the house. She sees Kelley talking to someone with a huge camera who she recognizes when she gets closer as Ashlyn. She must be on assignment, but Alex doesn't see a reporter anywhere, so maybe she's just taking B-roll.

 

Kelley's back is to her, so Alex puts a finger to her lips when Ashlyn sees her and sneaks up to put her hands over Kelley’s eyes. “Guess who?” She can feel Kelley’s cheeks rise, indicating a grin, and she doesn't wait for a response before removing her hands so Kelley can turn around and hug her.

 

“Hi favorite person in the world,” Kelley murmurs into her skin, burying her face in Alex’s neck. “God, I've missed you.”

 

“I missed you too,” Alex says. “Now I'm not letting go till you're in California with me.”

 

Kelley laughs. “Stay for practice.”

 

“I'm so hungry,” Alex whines. “Your mom is making me a snack.”

 

“I can make you popcorn in my office,” Kelley bargains. “I just want to be able to look over and see your pretty face on the sidelines.”

 

Alex sighs. “Fine, if you insist,” she groans. She turns to tell Erin, but Erin and her car are both gone.

 

Kelley smiles sheepishly. “I may have told her she had no choice but to leave you with me.”

 

“You're lucky I love you,” Alex says, kissing her quickly. “And that you have food for me.”

 

Kelley grips her hand tightly and turns her toward the gym building. “Ash, you want to come?” she asks. “My popcorn is amazing.”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Ashlyn says, folding up her tripod.

 

Alex was secretly hoping they could make out in Kelley’s office, but she masks her annoyance with a smile. “You can leave that out here,” she says. “I don't think it's going to rain.”

 

“She's doing this follow me around thing,” Kelley says, shrugging. “For a piece on the team. I don't know.”

 

“Okay,” Alex says, too focused on the popcorn in her future to care. “You look nice, is that for your interview?”

 

“What?” Kelley asks, looking down at herself. Given that her usual practice attire consists of running shorts and a T-shirt, the soft off-white blouse that Alex knows she stole from her and pastel blue skinny jeans make her look more like she's ready for a date than for practice. “Oh, yeah, I guess.”

 

“Is everything okay?” Alex asks, interlacing her fingers with Kelley’s. She can feel Kelley’s pulse racing, and her normally soft, dry palms are clammy.

 

“Yeah, just ready for the game,” Kelley says, nodding. “I'm nervous, I just want it to be here.”

 

Alex pecks her on the lips. “You've got this.”

 

“Yeah, it'd be embarrassing to lose in front of my babe of a girlfriend who just flew across the country to watch us.”

 

Alex smiles. “I came to see you,” she replies. “That's a win in my book already.”

 

When Kelley reaches for the door to the gym hallway, Alex braces herself for the familiar smell that's almost weirdly comforting at this point. It reminds her of the butterflies in her stomach after kissing Kelley for the first time and the afternoons she spent lounging in the beanbag chairs while Kelley drew up game plans and eventually distracting her with a make out session or two. But what she finds is different.

 

It smells like Alex’s favorite candle, first of all, the honeysuckle one she can't find anywhere in LA that she meant to stock up on while she's in Atlanta. The smell is what first alerts her that something is weird, then the way Kelley’s pulse picks up even more, and then the rose petals on the floor.

 

“What is this?” Alex asks incredulously. “Kel, did you do this?”

 

Kelley is chewing at her lip and avoiding eye contact, leading Alex toward her office. The door is open, and Alex turns to see if Ashlyn thinks this is weird too. She sees Ashlyn’s camera aimed at them, and Alex  is suddenly aware that she really has been filming them the whole time.

 

“What is going on?” Alex laughs, gripping Kelley’s hand. “It feels like you're proposing or something.”

 

Kelley turns to Alex, cheeks pink, and lets go of her hand, fumbling in her pocket for something before dropping to one knee. “You didn't have to ruin it,” she says.

 

“Oh my God,” Alex gasps, both hands flying to her face as Kelley’s hand emerges from her pocket with a small black box with a sparkling diamond ring inside. “I didn't mean to—”

 

Kelley smiles, biting her bottom lip. “This is where I fell in love with you,” she says. “Where we had our first kiss, where we had our fair share of tough conversations, where I daydreamed about you—still do, by the way. And this is where I want you to say that you'll spend the rest of your life with me.”

 

“Kelley,” Alex breathes, her eyes flitting between Kelley and the ring, hands clasped in front of her face.

 

“Will you marry me?” Kelley asks. “Please?”

 

“Well, you did ask so nicely,” Alex says once she's collected herself. “Yes, of course I'll marry you.”

 

As soon as Kelley slides the ring onto her finger, Alex bursts into tears, and a cheer erupts as Kelley stands to kiss her and her entire team (and a few alumni Alex recognizes) pops out of their hiding places around Kelley’s office.

 

“They insisted that I had to do it before I left,” Kelley whispers. “Because some of them think if it weren't for them we wouldn't even be together.”

 

“They're probably right,” Alex teases, gripping Kelley’s wrists with her shaking hands. “I can't believe this.”

 

“Really? Because you totally called me out.”

 

“Well I didn't think you really would!” Alex exclaims.

 

“You thought it was a coincidence that your mom insisted on taking you to get your nails done before you left?” Kelley asks. “You always talk about how bad you feel for girls who don't have perfect manicures when they get engaged.”

 

“It's just thoughtless!” Alex insists. She pulls back her left hand to look at the ring again. “My God, Kelley, it’s gorgeous.”

 

They had gone ring “browsing” when Kelley was in town for Valentine’s Day, and Kelley had claimed that she wanted to be prepared for when she moved there and they could start talking about the future. Alex hadn't expected Kelley to actually do anything until she was moved in and settled. In fact, Alex had started planning her own proposal if Kelley didn't stop dragging her feet.

 

“I want to see!” one of the girls exclaims, which leads everyone else to swarm Alex excitedly while Ashlyn snaps away and Kelley walks to the fridge, emerging with three bottles of sparkling white grape juice and a huge box of plastic champagne flutes

 

“I asked for an exception, but no can do,” Kelley shrugs. “We’ll have the real stuff at home.”

 

“Don't you have practice?” Alex asks, pouting.

 

“No, we didn't have school today, so I scheduled it for earlier,” Kelley laughs. “I mean, I was hoping you'd say yes and I could take you home and… well. But if you said no I'd have a pretty hard time coaching.”

 

Alex smiles, taking a champagne flute from her and taking a sip. “Well let’s hope you're as interested in impressing your fiancée who flew across the country as you were in impressing your girlfriend.”

 

“Eh, you already agreed to staying with me forever, so I think I'm good,” Kelley says, kissing Alex on the lips quickly. “No take backs.”

 

“I wouldn't dare,” Alex giggles, wrapping her arms around Kelley’s neck and leaning down to kiss her. “But I think the girls would blame me if you lose, so you better win.”

 

~

 

Just like a fairytale, Kelley’s team wins in convincing fashion, a 3-1 nailbiter till the end, when Starr’s Mill scores two goals in the last five minutes. Kelley cries and lifts Alex over the barrier to celebrate with her and the team. Alex gets caught in the line of fire when the captains drench Kelley with Gatorade, and the video goes viral on social media because it's the first time anyone gets a glimpse of Alex’s rock.

 

That night, after all the celebrations have died down, Alex and Kelley go back to their apartment and cuddle up on the couch in pajamas while Kelley tries to figure out the perfect caption for her Instagram, one of the photos Ashlyn sent them in advance of the full set.

 

She posted a team photo of the girls in their state champions shirt earlier with a whole diatribe about how proud she is, but despite Alex’s protests about how lame it is to post two Instagrams in one night, Kelley can't wait any longer to shout it from the rooftops.

 

Alex talks her out of cheesy song lyric after cheesy song lyric before Kelley finally settles on “It's the end of one adventure, but the beginning of another. This pretty lady makes me feel like a winner every day.”

 

As soon as Kelley is settled into Alex's—no, their—apartment, Alex takes her out for brunch and presents her with a ring, one she’s had in her dresser drawer for weeks. She doesn't dare ask how much hers had cost, but she knows it must be more than she spent on Kelley’s because Kelley doesn't know how to do anything halfway. Even so, Kelley tears up and says no, she has not changed her mind, and yes, she wants to marry Alex (right now, if possible).

 

Alex has to talk her out of a shotgun wedding, but Kelley throws herself headfirst into wedding planning, mostly due to the fact that she doesn’t have a full-time job quite yet. She’s never bored, though, because LA has a lot to offer: soccer, beaches, old friends, and of course, Alex.

 

Most nights, when Alex comes home from work to a warm dinner on the stove and a soft (but strong) pair of arms to fall into, she can’t believe she got so lucky. Other nights, when tensions are high and someone’s had a bad day, she still can’t believe how lucky she is to have someone who makes even the tough times worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress (my first in a while), so no promises on consistency when it comes to updates, but maybe having people actually read it and become invested will light the fire I need beneath me to kick it into gear. Hint.....hint...
> 
> Favorite lines??? Any predictions??? Get @ me


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